“Knowing how to read is knowing how to walk. Knowing how to write is knowing how to fly.

If you know, teach; if you don’t know, learn.”

Before the literacy campaign of 1961, 23.6% of Cubans were illiterate, after the Year of Education, the rate was reduced to just 3.9%. More recently, Cuba has remained the only country in the region to hit the UN education development goals. Even among critics of the Cuban government, the literacy campaign remains a staggeringly successful example of what a worker’s state can achieve when energies are focused on social justice and human liberation.

In this session we’ll discuss the Cuba literacy campaign and hear from some Bristol-based teachers who went on an NEU delegation to see their education system first-hand.

Do we need a full revolution to tackle educational inequality? Does education have the power to change society or does society need to substantially shift before we can have the education system we deserve?

We will discuss the key themes and questions as a group after a short introduction on the campaign. All welcome, even if you haven’t managed to read it, but you’ll get more out of the session if you do.

A book chapter outlining the campaign and its implications on the global stage: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1eSOEglu43HiIybN_HPQ51MQxE8L7slPq

A shorter extract of anthropological observations of Cubans involved in the campaign:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1eSOEglu43HiIybN_HPQ51MQxE8L7slPq

Entry requirements: no age restrictions — Read more — Read less