Chiapas program teaches 250,000 to read and write
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In Chiapas, Mexico, the state program Chiapas Puede has helped 250,000 people learn to read and write in the 124 municipalities since 2025.
Most of those receiving literacy training are Indigenous people. Flor Marina Bermúdez, the project coordinator, explained the program distributes around 850 million pesos each year through the Rosario Castellanos scholarship, giving 4,000 pesos to each person who achieves literacy. The program developed its own literacy model, creating teaching materials based on the learners’ native languages.
Bermúdez stated this approach has led to a high success rate, currently reaching people from the five main language groups in the state: Tseltal, Tsotsil, Chol, Zoque, and Tojolabal. After the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) recognized Chiapas Puede as one of the world’s most innovative literacy projects, the program’s team sought out effective literacy practices for Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Latin America.
They collaborated with Indigenous literacy instructors and ethnopedagogical approaches to create materials first in Indigenous languages, then in Spanish, ensuring the texts authentically reflect the cosmovision of the original peoples. The program has particularly benefited women, with 165,000 of the 250,000 people learning to read and write being Indigenous women, representing 80% of those who have become literate under Governor Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar.
State officials identified between 340,000 and 380,000 people as needing literacy support, and they plan to reach another 100,000 residents next year.
