00:00Honduras has lost its status as a country free of illiteracy due to a lack of follow-through
00:06on the programs initiated on the President Xiomara Castro. In fact, the current administration
00:12has overseen a reduction in the budget allocated to public education.
00:16Reporting from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Gerardo Torres Alaya has the story.
00:24According to UNICEF, between 2023 and 2025, the administration of Xiomara Castro lifted
00:31half a million Hondurans out of illiteracy, earning the country's recognition as being
00:36free from illiteracy. The country has since lost its status due to the current government failure
00:42to follow up on these programs. At present, more than one million Honduran minors
00:47are outside the education system. People who had been left in the shadows,
00:53those to whom the neoliberal model and the system of savage capitalism had denied the right to an
00:59education, were brought into the light. Xiomara championed this cause, allocating significant
01:06investment to ensure that these individuals could learn to read and write. The progress was remarkable,
01:13as evidenced by the development each person achieved in their own knowledge.
01:20In Honduras, the reduction in the education budget has a direct impact on the closure of
01:25literacy programs, the quality of education, and the reach of the national education system.
01:33We observe a distressing and deeply concerning statistic. More than 122 million children are
01:41outside the national education system. Furthermore, the quality of education for children and adolescents
01:50is precarious, as evidenced by the fact that they have failed to meet basic standards in reading and
01:56mathematics assessments. According to teachers' organizations, this government has abandoned
02:02the efficient programs that Castro had initiated, and this runs counter to the interest of the general
02:07population. Regardless of the ideological difference between the two administrations,
02:12there were programs that should have been maintained. Historically, Honduras has had a very low level of
02:20educational attainment, averaging about 10 years, which is well below that of other countries in the region.
02:28In this regard, the Yo Si Puedo, Yes I Can, program helped enhance the country standing within the
02:35international community. However, it is crucial to note that even if Honduras declares itself free of
02:43illiteracy, this status is not guaranteed to last. Regardless of changes in government, such programs and
02:51strategies should be sustained to ensure these gaps remain narrow.
02:58With the discontinuation of the Yo Si Puedo, Yes I Can, program, which the Honduran government
03:03has developed with the assistance of the Cuban government, and a lack of interest in promoting the right to
03:09quality public education, the country is rapidly regressing toward the same indicators that, prior to
03:15Siomara Castro's administration, had ranked among the most underdeveloped nations in the region in
03:22terms of education. For Telesur in English, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Gerardo Torres Zelaya.
