Nicaragua: "Poor Man's" Adult Education
Gander, Catherine
A group of well-armed men en- tered the town of Las Brisas in northern Nicaragua. After burning all adult education materials and forcing everyone to listen to violent, fanatical speeches,...
...We must work to replace many dairy technicians who were here in the times of Somoza, for they are against the revolution...
...More than half the popular teachers had not completed primary school in the times of Somoza, and relatively few had attended high school...
...this one shows people preparing the soil for planting...
...Then there are readings and exercises which tell us about health and agriculture, like here where it talks about how to prepare the soil, which crops should be planted in different kinds of soils, how to choose seeds, how to plant and irrigate, what fertilizers and pesticides to use...
...Nationwide, the average educational level is 2.5 years...
...He repeatedly rejected the AK rifle thrust at him, shouting that he would rather die than take up arms against his own people, and denouncing the contras' "preachings...
...In Kiwaska, armed invaders tried to forcefully recruit a CEP coordinator, Teodoro Diaz...
...In a revolutionary context, "education" is part of every social, political, economic and cultural activity...
...The union helps the adult education program in any way it can: assuring that the necessary materials arrive, explaining to workers the importance of education, functioning as liaison to management...
...The children will eventually be incorporated into the standard educational system leading toward further schooling...
...Many teachers have refused to surrender...
...The economic boycott, which includes the blocking of Nicaragua's loan applications to international lending institutions, has made it difficult to acquire some of the basic materials needed for adult education, such as printing supplies and pencils...
...More decentralized production of materials would better fit into the revolution's focus on empowering people to develop their own form and content...
...She works cleaning the factory and stacking books...
...Efrain Vargas coordinates the third level classes...
...It is hoped that upon completion of these levels, students will have a solid base on which to build technical training...
...The various mass organizations were mobilized to help supply and transport the brigadistas...
...Although the texts are essential to rediscover history, explain reconstruction programs and analyze the current difficulties Nicaragua faces, materials must also respond to very disparate regional realities...
...Destabilization Backfired Most troubling, however, is the escalation of military attacks...
...For many of the brigadistas, the experience helped broaden their perspectives by bringing them into contact with rural Nicaragua...
...I suffer, but I know we must struggle...
...He works eight hours a day making plates for printing, attends the CEPs in the afternoon and university classes in the evening...
...Ideally, the program can be used successfully by people of very different ages, professions, interests and capabilities, in a great variety of social settings...
...Public sector employers are responsible for upgrading the technical skills of their employees between 25 and 46 years of age...
...A "promotor" was appointed to supervise the work of the groups in a particular zone, and coordinate with the municipal commissions set up during the crusade...
...Their inadequate understanding of the methodology of popular education can also lead to its mechanical implementation...
...Thousands of new schools have been built or opened in communities which previously were completely isolated or ignored...
...With their signal of the approach of someone "suspicious," reading materials disappear and the CEP turns into a social gathering...
...Poolside CEP As the sunset engulfs the silhouettes of two volcanoes, the militia members at the Chiltepe dairy farm, armed with rifles, pencils and notebooks, study at rustic picnic tables...
...spite the stifling heat, about 20 workers of all ages are gathered around long tables in the room's four corners...
...Adult education is the base of our future technical training...
...Instead of working in the fields with a machete, Ruiz hopes that in a few years he will learn to operate agricultural machinery...
...These teachers and learners are only one of the many targets of Reagan's "secret" war...
...Inevitably, adult education programs reflect the possibilities and limitations of their social context...
...If we need to review a lesson, we do...
...The others really run the class, and we all learn from each others' experiences...
...I'm especially learning from their tremendous sensitivity and sincere desire to better themselves...
...The Chiltepe farm, on Lake Managua's southern shore, was nationalized when its owner fled Nicaragua in 1979...
...In response to these considerations, materials are now beginning to be produced locally...
...Some of the materials delivered to outlying towns in the north have been destroyed by counterrevolutionaries...
...They then burned the house of one of the teachers, Jesi(s Ortez, and kidnapped him...
...To take the place of the brigadistas, outstanding students were named "coordinators" of new groups called CEPs...
...First, we discuss the photo at the beginning of the lesson...
...The international community also made important financial and material donations to the crusade...
...The lessons are based on our experiences at work and at home, things we really live...
...Mario Justos, coordinator of the fourth level CEP at the PINSA print shop in Managua, says he sees his role as coordinator to orient, or 43update * update update * update Alejandro Sosa, first level student, adjusts the press at the PINSA plant...
...Ernesto Arteaga, secretary of culture for the local of the Sandinista Workers' Confederation (CST), explains that it was hard to get the CEPs going in the factory...
...After burning all adult education materials and forcing everyone to listen to violent, fanatical speeches, they kidnapped the education program's young administrator, Valentina P6rez...
...While each lesson teaches us language skills, it also teaches us history, geography, economics...
...Transporting adult education materials and basic supplies to communities has been made more difficult by ambushes...
...Those from 15 to 24 years old, the majority, may follow up with job-oriented technical courses after completing the 44 basic adult education program...
...Materials have at times been buried to save them from destruction...
...She is very active in the defense committee (CDS) and the women's organization, (AMNLAE) in her neighborhood...
...Natural and social sciences are interwoven, while math books make use of problems that may arise on the job...
...Sixty thousand of these were brigadistas, high school students who taught in rural Nicaragua...
...She felt she was too told to study, but her daughter told her that since she was so involved, she should also "be an example" in adult education...
...Vargas was a brigadista in the literacy crusade, an experience which fed his desire to be a popular teacher...
...Finally we look at how we can apply what we've read to our own community, to change things...
...A fourth level student at PINSA, Luisa Torres, says she had studied 15 years ago, but had to drop out to work...
...The number of teachers has almost doubled since 1979...
...Adult education classes are currently offered at the introductory or literacy level, and five out of an eventual six progressive levels which correspond roughly to a primary school program...
...Transportation problems sometimes prohibit materials from reaching classes on time...
...We used to have five different shifts, which meant that not everyone could attend afternoon classes...
...They are studying books they printed themselves a few months ago...
...Given the devastation caused by the civil war and the overwhelming scarcity of resources, the only way the Sandinistas could fulfill their longstanding promise to eradicate illiteracy, was to use the "poor man's formula...
...Coordinator Garcia, also production secretary of the Sandinista campesino organization, the Association of Rural Workers (ATC), explains the three-step methodology they are using...
...They also receive some pedagogical orientation via a daily radio program...
...The literacy crusade laid the foundation for the current adult education program...
...Members of the militia at the Chiltepe dairy farm on Lake Managua study two hours each evening...
...They returned to their communities, captured residents' words and images and transformed these into photo-stories...
...Marvin Garcia, coordinator of the CEP at the Chiltepe dairy farm, has a fifth grade education...
...The Vice-Ministry of Adult Education was established to oversee the program at the national level, Working Children Included The coordinators and promoters, or "popular teachers," are the driving force of adult education...
...The majority of students live in rural areas, and 44% are women...
...One first level student, Porfirio Ruiz, says that adult education will allow students to "better" themselves...
...The methodology and materials used in Nicaragua's program do not reflect a rigid separation of disciplines...
...DeEfrain Vargas--printer, CEP teacher and university student...
...focus the class, but not "teach" in the traditional sense...
...She recently worked for seven months with the Vice-Ministry of Adult Education...
...Among the first experiences was the production of photo-stories...
...After work or classes, teachers such as Garcia devote two hours per evening to teach and learn with their fellow workers, neighbors and friends...
...Guti6rrez explains that it is hard for her to concentrate on classes at times, because she worries about her three sons who are stationed with the Army on the border...
...In some northern towns, children are posted outside the house where a CEP is being held...
...They receive only a small stipend from the Ministry of Education...
...Those involved in adult education have responded to these attacks with great courage and conviction, seeking ways to continue studying...
...Each group had from five to fifteen students...
...Adult education is very important because it awakens workers and campesinos from the ignorance they were subjected to, and lets them see clearly what this revolution is all about, that it belongs to the popular classes...
...Jeny Perez, who works in adult education in the northern town of San Fernando, reported that contras "burned our office, along with most of the materials, the food distributed to popular teachers and the archives...
...Adult education in Nicaragua is just one element within a wide-ranging process of social transformation...
...An international campaign to discredit the Sandinistas has resulted in reduced support for educational programs by some international organizations...
...pressure on Nicaragua...
...Being An Example" The concrete walls of the lunch room at the PINSA print shop are decorated with red hearts from Mother's Day, lively posters and a mural of a co-founder of the Sandinista Front, Carlos Fonseca...
...Recognizing these problems, program planners have deemed teacher training a high priority...
...I enjoy teaching and I'm learning a lot from the people in CEP...
...Another problem is that the adult education materials are not always relevant to users in different regions of the country...
...At first I thought I'd die of shame Sept/Oct 1983 when I had to get up and speak to people...
...Our union worked with the administration to resolve the problem, and we managed to unify the work timetable so we can all participate...
...all of this combined...
...A core team of popular teachers was trained as "grassroots journalists," learning to photograph, collect oral histories and construct lively sociodramas...
...It's a bit heavy to be doing so much, but when I see how high people's spirits are, how much energy and dedication everyone has, I know nothing could stand in the way of adult education, or this historic process...
...From May 1982 to May 1983, 81 popular teachers were kidnapped or murdered by opponents of the process of social change...
...Many of the popular teachers are not sufficiently trained...
...In another recent example of participatory research and curriculum development, a series of regional workshops taught communities how to use different forms of communication (music, dance, theater, graphic arts, poetry) in the process of adult education...
...After taking the first step," they proclaim, recalling a slogan used during the literacy crusade, "we'll never stop moving forward...
...Transforming Reality The Sandinista government has given top priority to improvement of the educational system...
...Teachers now attend weekly work46 shops and intensive training sessions over a two- to three-month period at the end of the academic year...
...we go at our own pace...
...Nicaraguans have responded with ever greater strength and commitment...
...A thatched hut-with a picturesque bar, a forgotten fishing trophy and hanging lanternsNACLA Reportupdate * update * update * update now houses a poolside CEP...
...During the second stage of the crusade on the Atlantic Coast, twelve thousand costeiios acquired basic skills in English, or the indigenous languages, Miskito and Sumu...
...Of those registered for the first semester of 1983, over one-third were at the literacy level...
...All told, about 30 students and teachers from this area have been kidnapped...
...A corner of the ex-owner's house is now a spartan guard post, surrounded by a sand bag barricade...
...The program is characterized by flexibility...
...Sept/Oct 1983 PINSA's first level CEP uses books they printed themselves...
...We, the campesinos, will become the future technicians of Nicaragua...
...Curriculum as well as methodology are changing...
...The young people fanned out across Nicaragua, integrating themselves into the daily lives of the communities where they taught...
...Undaunted, P~rez soon requested a new supply of materials from the regional adult education office, pledging to "work harder than ever to eradicate ignorance and cultural backwardness...
...The kidney-shaped pool lies abandoned...
...P~rez managed to escape, Catherine Gander has worked in Nicaragua for the past two and a half years...
...By the end of the crusade in August 1980, over 400,000 adults had learned to read and write...
...Upgrading Teaching Skills Problems inevitably arise in a program which is so ambitious, and is evolving in such a complex and difficult situation...
...Through a series of workshops, 85,000 were trained as literacy teachers...
...Inspired by the pedagogy of the Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, the program has developed a methodology unique to the Nicaraguan experience...
...Unless you have some preparation, you can't talk to people about anything," she now says, "and since you are always talking in AMNLAE and the CDS, you should improve your ability to think through what you want to say and how to say it...
...We could do a skit illustrating all of these things, and talk about how we can take advantage of the courses offered by the Ministry of Agriculture and better organize our work in the cooperative...
...Yet the most serious problem facing the program is the repercussions of U.S...
...Dfaz was led away by the attackers and is presumed dead...
...They attend Popular Education Collectives, or "CEPs," as they're commonly called, which constitute the nu- cleus of the country's adult edu- cation program...
...Sometimes teachers are only a few steps ahead of their students in the curriculum and cannot answer questions...
...hiding for several hours in a ditch, while her captors were fighting the Sandinista Army...
...Now I help other women get over their shyness...
...After opening fire on the town, a band of men had entered and begun pounding on doors...
...Despite Nicaragua's current difficulties, the Sandinista government has continued to allocate significant resources to education...
...There are now 21,682 coordinators and 3,103 promoters...
...Adult education seeks to stimulate a process of "conscientization," encouraging not only a description of the participants' social reality, but also the understanding, analysis and eventual transformation of that reality...
...They later kidnapped and killed another teacher, F6lix Melgara, and Jos6 Betrin, who was taking a training course in adult education...
...Classes are different now...
...Attempts to destabilize and defeat the educational efforts, and the revolution, have backfired...
...Poor Man's Formula The CEPs are the continuation of a unique educational process which began with the 1980 national literacy crusade...
...It is continually reevaluated and adapted to the changing needs and demands of an accelerated process of social change, as well as to the rhythm of labor requirements for the principal harvests, and to varying paces of classes in different regions...
...The "adult education" program also includes a large number of working children who spend their days selling newspapers or cigarettes, shining shoes or guarding parked cars...
...0 ZE (5 C NACLA Report 42update * update update * update Factory workers, farmers, fish- ermen, housewives, market ven- dors, shoeshine boys and soldiers are among the 161,000 Nicara- guans who gather each afternoon or evening to study...
...A student's progression can take various tracks, dependent on age...
...He is active in the Sandinista Youth movement (JS19), which supports adult education by organizing informational meetings, making posters and 45update * update update * update providing popular teachers...
...He also plays four instruments in a musical group just formed in the factory, called The Border Guards -"in honor of our heroic brothers and sisters defending our freedom...
...Mirta Guti6rrez, a student in her mid-forties, is in first level...
...The national literacy rate had been reduced from 50.37% to 12.96...
...Explaining why he decided to teach, he says, "I saw that many of my coworkers needed and wanted to learn, so those of us who knew even a little had to help in any way we could...
Vol. 17 • September 1983 • No. 5
