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Mexican Press Pans Literacy Program

Mexico City, Mar 3 (Prensa Latina) The two-year program to teach three million Mexicans to read and write, touted by President Vicente Fox, has been a dismal failure, La Jornada daily reported Friday.

The newspaper said that while nearly 679,000 citizens have become literate since the Fox mandate six years ago, the program must be applied to another two million within his nine months remaining to reach the presidential goal.

The annual literacy rate stands at 130,000 certified, according to the National Adults´ Education Institute (INEA).

INEA informed that 6,024,310 people, representing eight percent of the population 15 and over, remained illiterate in 2005.