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| Roxana reads with a group of girls from Tomina. |
Among Biblioworks` primary objectives is the improvement of literacy in rural Chuquisaca, a region where education is largely under-funded and where many (often most) live in extreme poverty. In Tarabuco, a town known primarily for its Sunday textile market, about 60% of the population lives in what is officially called extreme poverty. Among men the literacy rate is 59.56%, and among women it is only 35.75%.
The causes of these low literacy rates are complex, but they are undoubtedly tied to limited funding, the reliance on child labor caused by extreme poverty, and insufficient culturally appropriate resources. Indeed, although over 90% of the population of Tarabuco speaks Quechua as a first language, texts and classrooms rely primarily on Spanish.
