Cuba’s Days of Education Excellence Have Come and Gone

Cuba's Days of Education Excellence Have Come and Gone
Teachers Do What They Can while the Regime Dupes Outsiders
Rosa María Payá October 10, 2014 at 10:53 am

Editor's note: Rosa María Payá is responding to a recent report from the
World Bank, which gives high praise to Cuba's education system. See the
news story, written by Peter Sacco, "World Bank Touts Cuba's Communist
Education as Exemplary."

During my student experience in Cuba I had some great teachers and some
unprofessional and poorly prepared ones. The programs that are set to be
taught were complete and rigorous; the problem was that there were not
and there are not the individuals and conditions to implement them on
the island.

The structure of the Cuban education system that was created before
1958, and in many senses is the same nowadays, is very good. This is
probably the main reason why the education system maintains a certain
level of quality, despite the rampant deterioration of the economy and
society. Another important factor has been the people: Cuba's
professional teachers, for many years, were well prepared for their
vocation; they endured the abuses and exploitation of the government and
remained teaching.

Today the situation is different. The application of disastrous
government policies has been the genesis of many social and economic
shortcomings. Low wages, a lack of incentives, and poor working
conditions for teachers have added to the extreme politicization of the
content and caused the exodus of these professionals to other fields for
many years.

The creation of the schools in the countryside (escuelas en el campo) in
1968 — where many boys had to go if they wanted to graduate from high
school — brought bad consequences for the Cuban families that had to be
separated from their children. They got to see them only every 10 or 7
days, so the children could study.

About 10 years ago, in the absence of professional teachers, the
government began to train teenagers and young people for only six
months, and these emerging teachers were sent to teach in all primary
and secondary schools in the country. As the emerging teachers were not
trained to teach classes, they relied on television and other videos.+

The results have been terrible. Education that had already deteriorated
practically collapsed. I'm not talking about just academics, but moral
and social concerns. Stories of sexual harassment and violence between
emerging teachers and students began circulating by word of mouth.

School attendance is compulsory in Cuba, and with the regime's
totalitarian apparatus and full control over the population, it is very
easy to make everyone comply. I am still grateful towards all my
teachers, at all stages, and I thank them for the sacrifices they made,
and the many others in Cuba who have remained dedicated to education
quality.

As of right now, I don't believe that any such quality exists, except
maybe in some university faculties. However, the Cuban government has an
easy time engaging in fraud with international exams, cheating CELAC,
and lying to the world about education on the island.

Source: Cuba's Days of Education Excellence Have Come and Gone -
http://blog.panampost.com/rosa-maria-paya/2014/10/10/cubas-days-of-education-excellence-have-come-and-gone/