Opened Havana Pedagogy 2019, the Congress of Educators
Some 600 delegates from 42 countries are protagonists until February 8 of the XVI International Congress Pedagogy 2019, which was opened Monday in the capital Karl Marx theater in the presence of Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, President of Cuba.
According to the initial gala, the biennial event is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution and to the 500th anniversary of the founding of Havana’s Villa de San Cristóbal.
As part of the congress, tribute was paid to the recently deceased José Ramón Fernández Álvarez, who was Minister of Education and deserving of the National Pedagogy Award 2017.
In the opening lecture, Ena Elsa Velázquez Cobiella, head of Education, highlighted the hope that the Congress is a space for the exchange of ideas, in which everybody learns from each other and can continue working, from their respective countries, in favor of that future that is already sitting in the classrooms.
She made a presentation on the Cuban educational system and the Objectives of Sustainable Development (ODS), and she emphasized that in the Caribbean nation the sector is privileged by government policies and the state budget.
Cuban education is inclusive, with compulsory basic training and it guarantees continuity of studies for 100 percent of ninth-graders, access to university and employment.
He assured that in Cuba the training of new generations has as its focus the stimulation of critical thinking, and that it is based on the principles of solidarity, spirituality and the development of a comprehensive culture.
She commented that the Third Improvement of the Cuban National Education System has a lot to do with the fulfillment of the ODS, and that at present, the updating of materials for the educational process is under way and new forms of work are being experimented with.
The Minister referred to the importance of using Information and Communication Technologies in education, and she said that these should be used with creativity in order to make them a real strength.
Another central aspect of the presentation was the close relationship that has been established between the Ministry of Education and civil society, among which there is constant feedback for the sake of an educational process that responds to the needs of the learners.
Some of the headline’s weighted achievements were that the illiteracy rate in the largest of the Antilles is only 0.2 percent, that the Cuban Yo sí puedo (“I Can”) method has benefited more than 10 million 600 thousand people in 30 countries, and that three nations have already been declared illiteracy-free.
She also illustrated that some 37,000 Cubans are currently preparing to become teachers in pedagogical schools and universities, and she mentioned different programs to guarantee early childhood care, access to education for people with different abilities, and care for children in hard-to-reach communities.
Velázquez Cobiella noted that the main challenge of education today is to raise quality, so that the system is innovative, responds to individual needs, and allows for the upbringing of a learner who loves his or her country.
The meeting was also attended by Roberto Morales Ojeda, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and vice-president of Cuba; Olga Lidia Tapia Iglesias, member of the Secretariat of the CC of the PCC; and other international guests.
(Taken from ACN in Spanish)
Written by Radio Grito de Baire
