New School Year Begins in Cuba
“There are lots of reasons to feel optimistic. We have all the necessary resources for this academic year —the seventh in this great revolution in education headed by Fidel— to be successful,» said the minister of Education, Luis Ignacio Gomez in a ceremony held Monday in Havana’s Mella Theatre marking the beginning of the academic year. This year 774,000 students are enrolled in classes.
“The first task of this year,” he said “will continue to be the formation of values, strengthening the culture of teachers and students, added the minister.
A Look at the Numbers
Gomez pointed out that in Cuba, primary and preschool education until age six are universal. Likewise, he said that there is an average of 18.6 students per classroom in urban regions and 10.4 in rural regions. In Havana City the average number of students decreased from 37 to 18.
“There is double teaching session in all primary schools and all the students who finished sixth grade have entered secondary school. At the junior high school, 60 percent of the students who graduated from ninth grade enrolled in high school, and the 40 percent were granted diplomas in technological education,” said the minister of Education.
Today, there is one teacher for every 15 students at the junior high level. Moreover, double session and food are guaranteed.
“Special Education focuses on all the children and young people who need it, with the recent incorporation of new technical resources, in the hands of specialists, turning Cuban special schools into world reference centers,” he said.
“There are 30 students in all high school classrooms, which will be under one teacher. Likewise, all students who graduated from high school have the right to enter the university, something exceptional around the world.”
This year, every classroom in the country will have a 29-inch television set, with two educational channels which include in their cultural programs 38 hours of TV-classes. This, along with 3,373 hours of video-classes, has revolutionized the teaching methods at all levels.
There are also a total of 2,446 solar panels in rural schools so that all child could enjoy of this benefits. Sixty two of these centers have only one student.
Computer science is also taught since preschool education and has become an essential teaching means with the use of soft wares created by Cuban pedagogues. There are 20,000 computer science teachers throughout the country’s schools and others who work in the island’s community computer centers.
In the new academic year, artistic culture is expanded with the functioning of 15 arts instructors’ schools and the incorporation of 13,327 graduated from these centers to the schools. There are also eight new arts schools which have made possible the development of arts for thousands of children and young people.
Physical educationa nd sports —said the minister— will have a greater pririty because sports areas will be revived and every school will be granted a module of equipment. Likewise, the universalization of higher education will continue with the expansion of the network of centers and specialties to more than 3,000 faculties.
Medical Sciences will receive 41,513 students in all its majors, the highest number in history. And the enrolment in pedagogical majors will also experiment a rise to 6,000 micro-universities.
The Minister of Education also said that the completing of the books, 24 millions, has no precedent. He also said that for this year 1,534 schools were totally repaired and 53 were built.
In order to achieve a successful development of these programs sponsored by the Revolution, 139,000 teachers have joined the educational system, including assistant professors in higher education. Also, there will be a higher number of intensively trained teachers graduated from university each year. The current figure is 5,580.
«During this academic year the number of teachers studying a master degree in Science of Education will reach 100,000, making Cuba the only country that achieve mass training of teachers, » Luis Ignacio Gomez said.
