Agoo wins Unesco literacy prize

MANILA, Philippines - The municipality of Agoo, La Union has been conferred the Confucius Prize for Literacy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for their program promoting literacy, continuing education and lifelong learning.

The Confucius Prize for Literacy, which comes with a silver medal, a diploma and a cash prize of $20,000, was awarded to Agoo for its Literacy, Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning Program.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus hailed the Agoo local government’s achievement, urging it to push ahead with its laudable program.

Other Confucius Prize awardees were the Pashai Language Development Project implemented by British NGO SERVE Afghanistan, and Non-Formal and Continuing Education Program of the Ministry of Education of Bhutan.

The UNESCO International Literacy Prizes are given each year to individuals, governments or governmental agencies, and non-government organizations as recognition of their successful practices in the field of literacy throughout the world.

Agoo’s literacy program was recognized for its well-established and innovative practices which addresses basic skills in reading, writing and numeracy that contribute to empowerment of people.

“The program perfectly identified the learning needs of the community and then provided the appropriate solutions and learning environments that eventually equipped the people with skills that improved their lives,” said Lapus.

The Agoo literacy program is a constant recipient of the National Literacy Awards sponsored by the Department of Education (DepEd) Literacy Coordinating Council of the Philippines.

“Our efforts are focused at eliminating illiteracy and sustaining lifelong learning in all of our 49 villages,” Agoo Mayor Sandra Eriguel said.

Partnership with various government agencies like the DepEd, Technical Skills and Development Authority, Department of Health, non-government organizations, and civic groups is also very critical in achieving their targets, Eriguel shared.

Started in 1998, the program initially faced problems like a lack of funds and lack of education and training. However, these obstacles did not keep the program from achieving its goals.

The program is credited for the huge rise in the number of functionally literate residents in Agoo. To date, around half of the identified illiterates in Agoo are considered functionally literate. More school teachers (264), local government employees, and community people (131 in four barangays) have acquired basic computer skills. Some of the 980 out- of-school youths and elders who passed the accreditation and equivalency test are now enrolled in higher levels of formal education.

Agoo has offered soft loans with no interest to those who will join the program in a bid to provide livelihood skills and incentives to those who will complete the program modules. 

“I hope that this little work of ours will inspire others to be more committed to literacy efforts. We must continue to give people opportunities to discover their best. Literacy is an unfinished concern – a concern that never ends for all of us who recognize what it is like to be illiterate,” Eriguel stressed.