President Danilo Medina confirmed yesterday, Sunday 21 July, that women workers and young entrepreneurs could rely on the support of his government in implementing projects. He encouraged those who did not know how to read and write to enroll in the national literacy campaign being run by the government. Volunteers give their time to teach trainees to read and write, and the government is reaching out to men and women to enroll in the programs.
Medina met with local people in the community of Los Martinez, in Mao, and with fishermen and chili pepper farmers in Las Matas de Santa Cruz. He approved a RD$14 million loan for the pepper farmers to add 600 tareas (628.5 sq. meter = 1 tarea) for their production. The financing comes from the Agricultural Development Fund (FEDA). Medina was accompanied by Presidency Administrative Minister Jose Ramon Peralta and FEDA director Antonio Lopez.
At the same time, the President urged people to enroll in the literacy campaign so that no one could cheat them if they ever had to sign documents. He said that illiterate people should not feel ashamed to start learning, and that his hope was that by 2014 not a single person who does not know how to read and write will be left in the country.
Medina said, “Whoever knows how to read and write comes from the darkness into the light, and we hope that in two years time in the Dominican Republic not one single person will remain who cannot read nor write”.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2013/7/21/285275/Presidente-Medina-se-reune-con-productores-de-Valverde-y-ordena-desmonte
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/07/22/i393968_danilo-reitera-promesa-suprimir-analfabetismo.html