Education
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Education in Cuba is free-of-charge at all steps - from initial grades up to the higher educational institutions - and obligatory down to the termination of nine grades. A campaign to declare the country “illiterates-free” was carried out based on the principle of Jose Marti, who stated that “Being cultivated is the only way to achieve freedom”. |
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In the following four decades, the creation of a wide educational infrastructure along with the training of thousands of teachers and professors has enabled everybody in the country to easily access higher educational levels. Nowadays, equity in this field, reaches high with the implementation of new programs and concepts. This fact represents a revolution within the educational revolution that started back in 1959.
Illiteracy has been liquidated in Cuba in 1961. In each province of the country operates universities, colleges, polytechnics and other educational institutions. In the country exist 13 343 middle and high educational institutions. In Cuba operates more than 170 scientific research institutes. The general number of pupils is 2 623 300; students of higher educational institutions - 201 257. The professional educational institutions are attended by 606 653 teenagers, including the centers for urgent preparation of teachers, schools of instructors of arts, teachers of physical training and sports, school of arts and others.
In primary education, children are now experiencing a more focused and comprehensive attention due to the fact that there is one teacher every 20 students. In the country, there are 9000 primary schools, and 74 % out of these, are located in rural areas. They also have the same resources of those in urban areas. Student’s alimentation has improved and interactive programs, audiovisual methods and computer use have been spread out.
Nowadays, more than 700 000 professionals are a product of the Revolution. One out seven workers is a university graduate and therefore the average schooling level would be grade eleven.
Last year, the staff involved in science and technology reached up to 78 497. This represents a index of almost 700 per one hundred thousand inhabitants, including 6 965 Doctors in Sciences
The country also has 310 507 teachers and professors, 380 000 university students currently enrolled in 64 universities and 938 branches nationwide, staffed by 65 427 professors.
The active involvement of the community to guarantee that every single child attends school is something to be highlighted. The community also foresees that education should be delivered to all and every person, even when this matter would imply the construction of new classrooms for less than 5 students (approximately one thousand of these cases in the whole country). The electrification of 2 335 using solar panels in further out areas as well as the task of guarantying special education to handicapped children are some of the other commitments of the community. As a result of this, more than 50 thousand handicapped children have been incorporated to the society.
This has been achieved due to the creation of a school of universal and free access, in a country where the economic resources are limited. According to a recent study carried out by UNICEF, that fact would be a contrast since more than half of the world children – approximately one thousand million- live under the poverty line and lack the means and the basic needs to survive, to grow and to develop. 140 millions out of that number have never attended school
Besides, all teenagers have access to continuous studies, in a constantly upgrading system of middle education. During 2004, a new comprehensive educational model for Secondary level was introduced. The objective was to achieve better results by fostering a better educative relationship between the teacher and only 15 students per class. It also included a better use of the day with the free lunch or snack, and the improvement on the audiovisual methods and the use of computers.
Another revolutionary concept is evidenced in the program of spreading out of the education that already reaches 938 municipal headquarters nationwide and a total of 233 thousand students have already enrolled in 46 careers.
At the Ministry of Education other establishments operate, such as:
• Group for the exchange of scientifically-educational information.
• The Latin American and Caribbean pedagogical institute.
• The central institute of pedagogical sciences.
• The Latin American reference center for special education.
• The Latin American reference center for preschool education
• The Center of foreign languages and computer affairs " Хосе Марти "
• The organization of the international summits through "Cubatur"
