UN General Assembly
1977

223. We do not regard our work in the field of literacy and education as a simple matter of teaching people to read and write but, rather, as a way of enabling them to participate more and more intensively in the process of the material and spiritual transformation of their life. 224. Given the high infant mortality and the short life-expectancy of the population during the colonial period, my Government has been given special attention since independence to the improvement of health conditions and, in particular, to mother and child protection. 225. In the economic field, agriculture was selected as a priority factor for our development. For this reason, land and tax reform are under way essentially in order to increase the production of food, which our population lacks.