In Bolivia, literacy training makes a profound difference

By CARLOS VALDEZ
Associated Press

PUCARANI, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia is one of the poorest nations in South America, and nearly a fourth of its citizens could not read nor write a generation ago. Now the United Nations says the country’s illiteracy is down to just 2.7%, thanks to “Bolivia Reads.” The government-sponsored program has made a profound difference in the lives of Indigenous people, particularly in the altiplano where many quit school as young children to help farm potatoes and raise llamas and sheep. Nearly a thousand people showed off their new skills Sunday in the plaza of a town near Lake Titicaca. Each received two chicks to go with their diplomas, plus training to use solar greenhouses to diversify their crops.