(Ven-Global News - Ministry for Communication and Information) - "During the 40 years of neoliberal capitalist governments, one of the most dramatic outcomes of Venezuela's political and social crisis was the damage of the public educative system and the exclusion of the population from formal education.

The Fourth Republic created literacy plans for minorities. Such plans just managed to teach 76,948 people to read and write between 1990 and 1998.

In the 90's, there were about 2 million illiterate Venezuelans, which translates into almost 9% of the population older than 10 years old.

Faced with this numbers, President Hugo Chávez gave special priority to the rescue and refoundation of the Venezuelan educative system. GDP expenditure in education was increased from 2.8% to over 7% and the transformation of the educative system was promoted.

The goal was to put an end to exclusion, which was the product of the inability to read and write. The Venezuelan Government has achieved this goal thanks to the promotion of educative programs known as missions, which include the following levels:

. Literacy: Mission Robinson I.
. Elementary and high-school education: Mission Robinson II and Mission Ribas.
. Higher education and specialization: Mission Sucre.
. Right to a high-quality integrated education.

The Venezuelan Bolivarian Constitution

The educative programs developed by the Venezuelan government are in keeping with Articles 3 and 103 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: The essential purposes of the State are the protection and development of the individual and respect for his/her dignity. Education and work are the fundamental processes to achieve these purposes.'

'Every person has the right to a full, high-quality, integrated, permanent education under conditions and circumstances of equality, subject only to such limitations as derived from their abilities, vocation and aspirations.'

Literacy: A challenge to Venezuela

This program was launched as a joint strategy by social organizations and governmental institutions. It started on May 23, 2003, with a pilot plan in Caracas and coastal states Vargas, Miranda and Aragua.

The plan's success confirmed the viability of the educative program. On July 1, 2003, the 'Extraordinary Literacy Plan Simón Rodríguez, know as Mission Robinson.

Mission Robinson's Goals

Mission Robinson's main goal was to teach Venezuelan adolescents and adults to read and write. It promoted reading comprehension.

This Mission was based on principles such as equality and respect for all forms of thoughts. Its aim was to develop the creative potential of each human being and the full expression of his/her personality in a democratic society.

Eventually, this program showed unequivocal results of what a government can do when giving priority to humanism and the direct care for the have-nots.

Who participated in Mission Robinson?

Mission Robinson was aimed at all men and women older than 15 years old who could not read and write. It was aimed at all Venezuelans, regardless of their religion, race, or political leaning. It included the participation of those citizens who wanted to improve their standard of living. It also included rural, urban, indigenous and prison population.

How did it work?

The Cuban literacy method 'Yo sí puedo' (Yes, I can) allowed illiterate men and women how to read and write. It represented a novel learning strategy, whose main foundation was audiovisual tools such as TV sets, VCR and video-classes.

It included the participation of teachers who supervised the learning-teaching process. They used as their main teaching tool a manual that provides methodological guidance, necessary for the smooth development of the classes.

The 'Yo sí puedo' book is pretty simple. It establishes a relation between numbers and letters. The illiterate person establishes an association process between what he/she knows (numbers) and what they do not know (letters).

Mission Robinson stages

Mission Robinson was a very unusual program and implied a challenge to the country. It was divided in three stages.

The first stage was training and it was comprised by 10 classes: familiarization (5), speech and psychomotor abilities. It included the graphic representation of numbers from 0 to 30. It was aimed to the vowels.

The second phase relied on the teaching of reading and writing. It included 42 classes of reading and writing.

The third phase was the consolidation of letters. It included 13 classes.

Mission Robinson evaluation system

The evaluation process was systematic and applied on a daily basis. It included:

. Exercises.
. Answers.
. Observation.
. Turning in exercises assigned by teachers.
. Participation.

Likewise, the participants were subjected to a final evaluation in order to prove that they had learned to read fluently and to write sentences, simple messages and a letter.

Scholarships

Since illiteracy prevented citizens from enjoying social rights, the Bolivarian Government, through the Education Ministry, put forth a program granting economic incentives. Some 100,000 monthly scholarships were granted to low-income participants and other 100,000 scholarships were granted to those who created cooperatives.

Mission Robinson's achievements

Mission Robinson gave a huge contribution to Venezuela's literacy program. This educative program offered its services to all levels of the Venezuelan population, especially to the most vulnerable groups.

It encouraged a massive volunteer participation, thus articulating the inclusion of literate people in the programs aimed at boosting their potentials. It managed to incorporate them into the development of productive projects in keeping with the model of Endogenous Development carried out all around the country.

Simón Rodríguez (Samuel Robinson) used to say that education 'is linked to the formation of social virtues, the love to the homeland, the common good, and the love to productive work, understood as a liberating activity.'

Venezuela: Territory free of illiteracy

The deed was performed. The impossible is today a reality as 1,500,000 Venezuelans became literate.

Mission Robinson allowed Venezuela to be declared territory free of illiteracy on October 28, 2005. According to UNESCO, a country or territory is free of illiteracy if over 96% of its population older than 15 years old can write and read.

Citizens from the country, cities, indigenous communities and prisons stopped being excluded from the Venezuelan educative system. Today, they can read and write. Today, nobody can deceive them. Today, they know their country's wealth. Thanks to the Bolivarian Government, the people have been empowered.

Mission Robinson results paved the way for Mission Robinson II. This program will incorporate Mission Robinson's graduates into elementary education.

As President Chávez affirmed on October 28, 2005, 'Mission Robinson is a mother Mission, the original Mission. Mission Robinson II, Ribas, Sucre, Vualvan Caras, Barrio Adentro, Barrio Adentro II emerged from it (...).'