NEW YORK- The inability of people to read and write because of the lack of education in developing world is, slowly but surely, coming to an end. “Yosípuedo,” a Cuban program designed to improve literacy rates among students in poor nations,has helped numerous countries reduce illiteracy and hopes to one day eliminate the phenomenon from the face of the Earth.

Paraguay is one of the latest countries to sign aneducational agreement with Cuba to incorporate the program throughout different cities.Within the first year of participation, Paraguay’s goal is to coverup to 30,000 people in departments like Itapúa, Misiones and the capital city of Asunción,to eventually reach its goal to end illiteracy by 2013.

The program is administered in Spanish and Guaraní, and gives students the opportunity to learn how to read, write, interpret and understand given material. Its completion takes two to three months and is specifically designed to benefit people aged fifteen and older who never had the opportunity to go to school,or who went for a couple of years and forgot what they learned.

“Yosípuedo” was established in 2001 by President Fidel Castro and, according to Cubadebate.cu, is now in more than 28 countries around the world, 13 of them in Latin America. It was designed by LeonelaRelys Diaz, adoctor of Pedagogical Sciences, and it is based on a model that uses visual methods and combines numbers and letters to teach how to read and write.

To date, millions of people have been helped. In countries like Guatemala and Argentina, some municipalities have been declared illiteracy free.

“Yosípuedo” will continue to grow and expand. In Mexico, Camargo, a small city in the state of Chihuahua, will start a new program that will teach single women heads of households how to start or undertake a family business for self-employment, leading them and their families to a better economic future.