The highest prevalence of illiteracy is among the indigenous population, especially in the provinces of Chimborazo, Cañar and Cotopaxi.
Mercedes Ll. sells fruits and vegetables in one of the markets in the north of Quito. At 57 years old, and with some embarrassment, she admits that she does not know how to read or write.
In a small bag that she carries everywhere, Mercedes keeps an ink pad to use her fingerprint as a signature in each procedure she carries out. Generally, she must go in the company of one of her children, who are in charge of reading the documents and deciding whether her mother should place the fingerprint or not.
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This woman confesses that she always wanted to learn to read and write, but she thinks she won’t have enough time to do it.
The latest figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC), collected at the end of 2021, reveal that, since 2018, the illiteracy rate in Ecuador has not been significantly reduced.
Between 2018 and 2021, the percentage of people who could not read or write increased from 6.5% to 6%. This means that there are still 764,610 illiterate people in the country.
According to the INEC, an illiterate or illiterate person is a person over 15 years of age who does not know how to read or write. Or that he only knows how to read or write.
This problem is largely concentrated in rural areas, where the illiteracy rate can reach 11.1% , while in urban centers it reaches 3.6%.
The information from the INEC contrasts with the declaration of a “country free of illiteracy” made by former President Rafael Correa, who assured that between 2007 and 2009 illiteracy had fallen from 9.2% to 2.7%.
Where are there more illiterate people?
The provinces of Chimborazo, Cañar and Cotopaxi are the ones with the highest rates of illiteracy.
In Chimborazo, for example, the figure is 11.9%; while in Cañar the indicator is 11.3%, and in Cotopaxi it reaches 10.5%.
Other provinces that have a high rate of illiteracy are Manabí, Imbabura and Bolívar, in which the percentage of people who cannot read or write ranges between 9.9% and 9.3%.
At the other extreme are El Oro and Pichincha, with 3.50% illiteracy; and Galapagos, with only 0.7% of its inhabitants who cannot read or write.
Hit the indigenous more
Official information about the number of people who cannot read or write confirms a claim that indigenous populations have made over the years: lack of access to education.
According to the INEC, 16.2% of indigenous people are illiterate , which makes them the population group with the largest number of people living with this disadvantage.
Leader Delfín Tenesaca says that it is not surprising that the largest number of illiterate people is part of the indigenous community:
What worries him now is that this figure will increase in the coming years , as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, since “many children have stopped going to school to dedicate themselves to work.”
Tenesaca requests that the Government implement strategies that promote the entry of children into schools to prevent illiteracy from increasing.
But according to the INEC, illiteracy does not only affect the indigenous population. The montubios have 15.2% of illiterate and Afro-Ecuadorians, 6.8%.
In lower percentages appear people who consider themselves white, with 5%, and mestizos, who have the lowest incidence, with 4.5%.