This article describes the scope and content of the Nicaraguan National Literacy Crusade of 1980, its organization, workings, and outcomes. Special attention is given to those aspects of the crusade that relate to the goals of integrating previously excluded groups and transforming the political culture of the country. (Author)

After the Castro revolution of 1959, the new Cuban revolutionary government began a massive literacy campaign that taught 700,000 persons to read in about a year. Twenty years later, Nicaragua, facing an even more serious literacy problem, conducted a similar literacy campaign. In approximately six months, Nicaragua had reduced illiteracy by 37…

Describes politically driven, educational changes in Nicaragua, 1979-93, since education was used first to promote social change and later to restore elements of the previous status quo. Discusses the church-state relationship, curricula and textbooks, recent moves toward site-based management, funding of higher education, and the possibility of…

This book examines literacy for sustainable development in the age of information. It begins by discussing the relationship between literacy and hegemony, social policy, national language policy, colonial relations, and postcolonial realities. Also discussed in the introduction are views and definitions of literacy and considerations in mapping a…