CMPC Foundation presents at a large gathering of the Literacy Network of Chile

Representatives of more than 100 organizations met at the Universidad de Los Andes in Santiago Chile wherein CMPC Foundation Executive Director Carolina Andueza participated in a meeting to address children’s literacy delays.

The CMPC Foundation co-organized and actively participated in the second working meeting of the Por un Chile que Lee Network [Literacy Network of Chile] where representatives from more than 100 organizations met. The Foundation had provided the Ministry of Education of Chile with a document containing concrete proposals to reinforce and strengthen the reading skills of children and adolescents.

This meeting – held at the Universidad de los Andes – is a follow-on to the one held in January, in which aspects for the strategic planning of the network were discussed. The objectives of this second meeting were to add on to the work done with thematic roundtables and the priority action plans as well as to share knowledge of and help design the initiatives of the various network members.

CMPC Foundation Executive Director Carolina Andueza, presented on the network progress at the meeting as part of the driving force behind it. She said, “Articulation of the network is one of our key principles. We firmly believe that together we have to tackle this goal head on, this mission that unites us as a country, so that Chilean children and adolescents can read for understanding and enjoy doing so. That’s why in addition to delivering this document to the Ministry and participating in the Restoration Council, we continue to link our participating institutions together so we can build our national plan and the network’s activities.”

Education Minister Marco Antonio Ávila said, “We’re very happy that the network continues making progress, and we appreciate the delivery of this package of proposals, as we’re certain that together with civil society organizations and everyone who wants to be part of this work, we can advance education in Chile. Reactivating education is a priority for President Boric’s administration and a national challenge that requires collaboration from all sectors of society. The Por un Chile que Lee Network has become a powerful tool to articulate available resources and experiences and ensure that no child or adolescent is left out of this process.”

Pelusa Orellana, Academic Director of the Center for Research and Innovation in Reading at the University of Los Andes said, “The meeting was an opportunity to move forward with our goal of making learning how to read a priority in Chile, thereby increasing the opportunities for children to learn more and better.” In her presentation, the academic highlighted the figures and data on reading habits and levels of reading motivation in Chile during the pandemic and pending tasks for improving these measures.

Susana Claro, Professor at the School of Government of the Universidad Católica said that these workshops “help us increase the joint learning of network members. Bringing together these efforts and the knowledge that already exists will enable us to create a full-scale response, which is what we need. This is the second of several meetings that we will be holding to gather initiatives and information, creating new lines of action. This is especially important in terms of Book Day, coordinating actions and raising awareness among citizens about how essential literacy is.”

Red Por un Chile que Lee [Literacy Network of Chile]

The Por un Chile que Lee Network is a public-private alliance that seeks to provide initiatives to address students’ learning gaps in reading.

Prior to the pandemic, the numbers of non-reading children were already alarming and evident, especially to the foundations and organizations that have dedicated their efforts to reducing learning gaps between non-reading children and their peers for years. After the pandemic, the reading learning gap at the country level widened. The Universidad de Los Andes conducted a study where it compared the performance of approximately 2,500 students with 2018 data from the same educational centers. It found that 96% of first grade students did not know the letters of the alphabet, which means they were unable to read any of the books suggested for their age.

For this reason, CMPC Foundation, Alma Foundation, Araucanía Aprende Foundation, Crecer con Todos Foundation, Hijos Lectores Foundation and Sara Raier de Rassmus Foundation all began working together on creating a campaign to address the reading crisis. Today, the initiative has the support of more than 100 civil society organizations, driven by the urgency of promoting learning how to read.