Intense efforts in Cuba for the new school year
Havana, Cuba. – Ena Elsa Velázquez Cobiella, Minister of Education, said in Havana that intensive work is being done to prepare principals and teachers and to prepare the material resources that will support learning next school year.
She added that all students who complete 9th grade are guaranteed continuity of studies, 42 percent in pre-university and 58 percent in vocational technical education, in various specialties.
Velázquez Cobiella explained that in the next school year we will have almost 6,000 new teachers, graduates from pedagogical schools and universities who will be located in different educational establishments.
She announced that this academic year there will be more than 500 graduates from the two-year short cycle courses, in addition to nearly 4,000 students from the final year of the pedagogical courses who will also teach classes.
Education does not stop
Despite the blockade by the U.S. government and the application of Title III of the Helm-Burton Act, the Ministry of Education is working to guarantee the necessary material basis for study for the coming school year, Ena Elsa Velázquez Cobiella, head of MINED, said in Havana.
She added that priority is given to items that cannot be missing for the beginning of the school year such as notebooks, pencils, chalk, temperas, the teacher’s module and the work paper for teachers and students.
Velázquez Cobiella said that for months there has been a process of repairing school furniture and indicated that out of the more than 10,000 educational institutions, about 1,500 are included in the remodeling plan.
She commented that currently, in schools computers are at 75 percent of technical availability.
(Taken from Radio Reloj in Spanish)
Written by Radio Grito de Baire
