The Cuban Literacy Campaign

The Cuban Literacy Campaign  was an eight-month long effort to abolish illiteracy in Cuba after the Cuban Revolution.

Before 1959 the literacy rate for Cuba was approximately 77%, as noted by UNESCO. This was the 4th highest rate in Latin America. The Cuban government of Fidel Castro at Che Guevara's behest dubbed 1961 the "year of education" and sent "literacy brigades" out into the countryside to construct schools, train new educators, and teach the predominantly illiterate guajiros (peasants) to read and write.

By 2010, according to UNESCO, Cuba's literacy rate for those above the age of 15 was 99 percent.