A difficult but not impossible task: literacy

Sofía Daniela Ríos Hoyo

UNESCO defines literacy as a concept that goes beyond a simple meaning: a set of literacy skills. Today, it is understood as a means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation and communication, in an increasingly digitized world, rapidly changing and rich in information. To better understand this concept, we spoke with teacher Sonia Aguilar, Amextra´s Education Promoter in the Highland region of the state of Guerrero, who works with children from 3 years old to middle school.

Sonia thinks that literacy allows the full realization of a person’s life by learning, reading, writing and going a little beyond their knowledge in other areas. For her, the importance is based on providing help.

“Education is important in every person’s life. It opens many doors to have a full life.”

In Guerrero there is a notable educational gap that was evidenced in the pandemic, such as little or no cell phone signal and technology, at times when remote education was the main option. The work of Sonia and the promoters of education of Amextra have been of significant effort and helps the highly marginalized communities.

“Our job is to help and assist these children with homework and activities they can do at home. We support them as much as possible, since here most of the children do not have someone to support them at home, many of the parents are working or are illiterate ”.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the current educational panorama is complex and with great difficulties. The ideal education involves not only the student but also the teacher, who must be in constant connection with educational and digital updates to enhance the uniqueness of each child.

The challenges during this health contingency due to COVID-19 have increased and the need has also increased, Sonia states that the remote location of the communities and not having their own space, such as a school, to work or give classes complicates her work:

“On the one hand, it is nice to be able to help and contribute what we can, but then sometimes we feel helpless because we cannot help completely, due to the pandemic. But we try to at least offer children our time to sit down and have this support from us. “

Another challenge is the language, since in the Highlands of Guerrero several languages are spoken- Where Amextra participates, for example, the Tu´un Savi language is commonly spoken instead of Spanish; Sonia fortunately speaks the language, but difficulties sometimes arise in translation and interpretation.

Amextra has created programs that allow us to reach communities like those of Guerrero. The objectives are based on being able to eradicate illiteracy and allow children to develop academically.

“My academic preparation is not focused on teaching, but on other areas such as administration, marketing and communication, but I began to work in education and I have always liked it a lot as well, and thank God I came to Amextra. For me it is very important to be working in this area and even more so with the children because I feel that I am planting a seed in their lives “

Sonia Aguilar opens the doors for our readers to be inspired to volunteer with Amextra in any area, as there is much to learn: “It is a complicated but not an impossible job”