Osmel Almaguer
HAVANA TIMES — Recently an article about the problems of education in Cuba caught my attention.
The author, whose name escapes me at the moment, gave examples of how education here is undergoing a discreet and gradual process of privatization.
They referred to the “little gifts” that teachers expect to receive from their students, with so little interest in studying.
The article also referred to crash courses and class reviews given by private tutors — paid for by parents — when the classes given at schools are substandard.
It pointed out that many of these teachers are the same ones who work during the day in schools, with their shoulders being the very ones on which rests much of the responsibility for instruction having have declined to the poor condition it is today.
Today, in fact, I remember listening to my stepfather talking about something similar related to his experiences with the “somaton,” the inspection that all motor vehicles have to periodically undergo to determine whether they’re in suitable shape to be on the road.
So what happened to my stepfather? He had to pay 5 CUCs (over a week’s salary for the average worker) for an “approval rating.” “He who doesn’t sweeten the pot doesn’t pass the inspection,” crudely explained one member of the crew.
Nowadays they don’t even care if your vehicle meets the required standards. Each and every vehicle inspected has to pay that amount, except for larger cars – the price is even higher for those.
These inspectors try to rationalize their actions: Their wages aren’t enough to live on; life is hard, they’re young and have to live, or they have families and their kids need shoes.
When presented with opportunities, this is how many officials abuse the power granted to them by the state, for reasons we shouldn’t ignore either.
Almost everyone is charging and collecting for their work “under the table,” and any employee or official who hasn’t started doing the same will soon begin feeling the consequences of their principles when they sit down at their dinner table.
And corruption is not endemic in the US? “Oil and glue” is nothing. Try mother’s milk instead – closer to the capitalist teat.