RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The percentage of 6 and 7-year-old children who cannot read and write almost doubled during the new coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19).
The data on illiteracy among the youngest was released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in its survey “todos pela educação” (“all for education”).
About 2.4 million Brazilian children were not literate in this age group. It represents approximately 40.8% of the total number of Brazilians of this age.
Making a child literate in this age group is fundamental because poor literacy can negatively affect the rest of their lives, both personal and professional.
For the Common National Curriculum Base (BNCC), literacy is one of the focal points of the first two years of elementary school.
According to the document, reading is fundamental at this stage of life because it is the basis for a child to develop their skills better and thus increase their culture in the following years of life.
The problem is not only the schools, which were closed for almost two years during the pandemic. But also of the families, who often don’t have the resources – or the cultural preparation – to buy books for their children.
And this serious lack of reading when young ends up condemning millions of young Brazilians to a life of extreme difficulty in learning.
However, all over Brazil, some projects try to alleviate this unfortunate situation by giving poorer children the opportunity to read.
One of them is the “Nunca desista dos seus sonhos” (“Never give up your dreams”) project, a network of children’s libraries within needy daycare centers and schools in vulnerable situations.
The project has existed for more than six years and has more than 18 children’s libraries spread throughout the countryside of Goiás state.
Each library has a collection of 3,500 to 4,000 books, all from collection campaigns.
The “Never give up your dreams” project has several important supporters, artists such as: the singer Felipe Araújo, Tiago Abravanel, Andressa Suita, Maiara & Maraisa, Carlinhos Maia, and the actor Reynaldo Gianecchini.
All have directly helped the founder, writer Ricardo Cabello, create this library network.
“My goal is to create the habit of reading among parents and children, helping thousands of children and families in vulnerable situations,” explains Cabello.
The writer points out how his life has been transformed through books, so he wants to do the same for children who don’t have access to reading or can’t afford to buy a book.
“Reading changes lives. Books change the world. And I want to contribute to that,” says Cabello.
With information from Exame