Special Reading Initiatives
The Chilean government has implemented several initiatives to continue making progress in the area of literacy development. In recognition of literacy as a right and a practice that helps to reduce social and cultural gaps within the country, a National Reading Plan was created in 2015 by different public institutions. The plan promotes access to diverse practices and supports lifelong reading to enhance the development of an informed, critical, creative, reflective, and participatory population. The general objective of the plan is to “promote the exercise of the right to read, in all formats and supports, promoting and making visible the citizen participation in the implementation of the National Reading Plan and in the Regional Reading Plans.”28
In 2016, the Education Quality Agency started the Project to Improve Reading Comprehension. This project seeks to guide schools in teaching reading comprehension, thus narrowing socioeconomic gaps and ensuring that all students in Grade 2 can read comprehensively. The program includes professional guidance, parents’ accompaniment in the learning process, formative evaluation strategies in the classroom, and progressive evaluation.
In addition to these initiatives, many other campaigns and activities in Chile promote reading among children and their families.