Going to School in Cuba Has Become “Optional”

Elementary school children arriving at school /14ymedio

By Juan Diego Rodríguez (14ymedio)

HAVANA TIMES – Dayma has not sent her daughter to school on Fridays in the municipality of Placetas, Villa Clara, where she is in third grade. According to 14ymedio, it is not because the girl is sick or because there is a new “complication,” but because the primary school itself has established that school days are only from Monday to Thursday.

She doesn’t know if the order came “from above,” but since the announcement, her life has turned upside down. “Every week I have to juggle to see who stays with her because if I stop working, we don’t eat. And at ten years old, I can’t leave her alone,” says the mother.

Hiring someone to pick her up from school and take care of her until she gets home from work is not an option either. The service is not cheap, and, with her daughter’s frequent outings at noon – when classes are suspended – it becomes more expensive.

On top of this, she argues, she works in the provincial capital, Santa Clara, which makes it difficult for her to take care of her daughter during working hours. Although she has tried to look for a job in Placetas, for now she cannot leave her only source of income.

Dayma confesses to this newspaper that she is “distraught” with the operation of the school: “I don’t know of any other programs, but my daughter barely has classes.”

According to the mother, the girl has not had a steady teacher since the school year began, and, due to the lack of staff, many subjects “have been left hanging.” “The other day I took her a little late because I had a medical shift, and when I got to the classroom there were only two children, of the 20 in the group. The parents had not sent the rest of them,” she says worriedly

In addition, the primary school has not had a director for at least two years. The teacher who held the position got sick and gives orders from her home, but she is never at the school “nor does she have the authority to demand anything if she herself does not go.” On several occasions, attempts have been made to “cover the gap,” says Dayma, but no other worker will step forward: “No one wants to get into that mess.”

“I know that things are difficult with the blackouts, lack of food and the situation of the teachers, who have their own problems. Sometimes I don’t want to send my daughter to school, because I feel it’s a waste of time and they only go hungry without doing any work. If things continue like this, they won’t learn anything,” she admits, and adds that even in Santa Clara many of her co-workers have complained about the same thing.

Carmen, a resident of the Luyanó neighborhood, in Havana, has a similar experience. Mother of a seventh-grade teenager, she has had to manage so that her son, at home, learns what they don’t teach him in school.

“At the beginning of the course they said that they would teach all day, but my son only goes in the mornings and often returns at ten or eleven saying that the teacher wasn’t there or that a shift was suspended,” she says. Other times, she points out, “they go in the morning and the teachers don’t come, so they leave them there for three hours, fulfilling a schedule, but without giving classes,” she complains.

Following the death of Jonathan Oliva, the 12-year-old boy who drowned during the floods last Monday in the capital, the schools of the municipality have tightened the measures, says Carmen. “Now they require the boys to also go in the afternoon, but they are not doing anything. In the end, without teachers and resources, they will not be able to maintain that system,” she predicts.

At the rate they’re going, the woman believes that only the most intelligent and “those with parents who force them to study” will be able to graduate. The most backward, she says, have no chance: “If they pass the year it’s because the school approved them so as not to have a bad record.”

Alarmed by the situation in the schools, both mothers agree that education on the island is far from demanding and controlled. “At any time you can meet a group of pre-university boys, or of any classroom , on the street. And it’s not that they ran away, but because they were released when classes were suspended,” Dayma criticizes.

If before these situations were only seen on days when the energy crisis forced the closure of schools and certain workplaces – as the Government did two weeks ago – now, the mother says, “it seems that education in Cuba is optional.”

Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.

Read more from Cuba here on Havana Times.

7 thoughts on “Going to School in Cuba Has Become “Optional”

  • Sad, just so sad. So many still believe Fidel brought education to Cuba. What this man did to Cuba, at all levels, and continues to do from the grave breaks my heart. If only people took the time to find out more about Cuba before 1959. In this high-tech world (Facebook, YouTube, X, and first-hand memoirs, etc) there’s no excuse not to become informed, but then again, some people won’t let go of their ideals and thinking Fidel created Utopia.

  • Sad, just sad

  • They won’t do a thing. To them communist ideology is paramount. They’ll let the country fail before admitting they have done anything wrong.

  • I urge Cuban government to collaborate with the World Parliament of Peace International inter-governmental corporate and Intelligence Organization in the immediate meeting between Putin and Trump. In case of even tentative planned success,I could lay out in Washington DC Pennsylvania Avenue with my Nigerian American wife Kate Grace Druzhinin GOLIK ZAGURSKY THOMAS GARCIA,before our family friend UD president Donald Trump to reconsider certain sanctions for individuals and organizations to join our Druzhinin Thomas Garcia family discussion on peace in EU and Israel and the Americas as a whole. My best regards to the Castro family and the families of generals Jesus Ortega Ortega and Padilla whom my late father Alejandro Druzhinin had taught in Ryazan,USSR, st the higher Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of USSR.

  • Moses: Haiti is widely regarded as a ‘failed state’ due to its persistent instability, weak governance, and inability to provide basic services. The government is unable to maintain order, with criminal gangs exerting control over large parts of the country. Political instability, frequent leadership changes, corruption, and a lack of trust in institutions have crippled Haiti’s ability to function effectively. The country’s economic struggles, compounded by natural disasters and a heavy reliance on foreign aid, have left it vulnerable to collapse. These factors, coupled with a breakdown in law enforcement and widespread violence, mark Haiti as a failed state, incapable of protecting its citizens or maintaining basic governance.

    In contrast, Cuba, while facing significant challenges, remains a ‘fragile state’ rather than a failed one. The Cuban government, maintains stability through centralized control and suppression of political dissent. Unlike Haiti, Cuba has not descended into lawlessness or widespread violence. The government continues to provide basic services, such as healthcare and education – albeit they are faltering under significant strain due to economic hardship. While Cuba is struggling, especially with its economy, it still maintains a level of control and order that Haiti lacks, preventing it from being classified as a failed state.

    However, Cuba is increasingly moving toward failure due to mounting economic and social pressures. The country’s economic isolation, inefficiency in state-run industries, and deteriorating international alliances are causing widespread dissatisfaction. The protests in 2021 revealed growing public frustration with the lack of political freedoms and economic opportunities. Although the Cuban government has suppressed these protests and maintained order, the internal unrest and economic decline suggest that Cuba’s fragile state status may be at risk if these challenges continue to worsen.

    So, in comparison, Haiti exemplifies the characteristics of a ‘failed state’ with its inability to govern, provide for its citizens, or maintain order, while Cuba still retains a level of governmental control and stability. However, Cuba’s ‘fragile state’ is increasingly threatened by economic decline, political repression, and rising public unrest, which could push it closer to failure if its government is unable to address these mounting pressures. While Cuba remains intact for now, it must navigate these challenges carefully to avoid the path that has led Haiti into a state of collapse.

  • James comments, “Without it, Cuba risks becoming another failed state…”. Cuba is a failed state already. The only difference between Cuba and Haiti is the level of organized crime in Haiti. However, in Haiti there are no food shortages and very few blackouts. Haiti has suffered from corrupt and unstable leadership over the last 30 years. What’s Cuba’s excuse?

  • The situation in Cuba is nothing short of a travesty. It is often said that the most effective way to control a population is to keep them ignorant, so they remain unaware of what they should know. South Africa, a long-time ally of Cuba, serves as a cautionary tale. Under the rule of the ANC for the past 30 years, the country’s institutions, including its education system, have been systematically hollowed out. Resulting in a population that, by and large, does not realize that the very party claiming to serve them has, in fact, been working against them.

    The evidence is damning. A government study from last year found that 81% of South African fourth graders cannot read for meaning in any language. This isn’t just a failure of the system, it’s the dismantling of it. The consequences are catastrophic: generations of lost potential, a stagnant economy, and a society plagued by crime and corruption. South Africa now holds some of the worst global rankings – 79 murders per day!, 131 rapes per day!, an unemployment rate of 40% (rising to 60% among the youth), the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence, and the world’s worst wealth disparity, as measured by the Gini coefficient.

    Cuba must take heed. If education becomes optional, the nation will follow the same downward spiral, with devastating long-term consequences. Democracy may not be considered a fundamental human right, but education unquestionably is, as it is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Without it, Cuba risks becoming another failed state, another South Africa or even Haiti. The time to act is now. Invest in education, or prepare to suffer the consequences.

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