[NYTr] Cuba First in Latin Amer to Meet Education Goals Set in 2000 World Forum

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Granma Daily - Dec 22, 2007
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art30.html


A Never-Ending Odyssey

ALBERTO NUNEZ BETANCOURT

Cuba is making news once again with regard to education, as several
newspaper headlines acknowledged the island as the first Latin American
nation to fulfill the Education for All Program, approved by 164
countries at the World Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000.

A new report by the United Nations Education, Science, and Culture
Organization (UNESCO) reveals that Cuba placed 23 in the world on a
list that includes Argentina (27), Chile (37) and Mexico (48) as the
other Latin American nations in the top 50.

Four fundamental indicators were evaluated to measure progress in the
fulfillment of the goals set out to be achieved: access to free and
quality elementary education for all, a 50 percent increase in adult
literacy levels, discouraging sexual discrimination, and the improvement
of the quality of education.

Cuba has far exceeded these and other parameters, which are part of the
goal of providing all the earth’s inhabitants with basic education by
the year 2015.

The formula is precise: political will and intelligence have combined
to preserve educational achievements, to add others, and mechanisms
implemented to dealt with current problems in a sector that has always
enjoyed state and social priority.

THE ROAD TAKEN

A pencil, a reader, a manual and gas lamp in hand, in addition to an
immense will to defeat ignorance: That’s how this never-ending odyssey
began. Cuban President Fidel Castro had already warned the world during
his historic speech at the United Nations General Assembly on
September 26, 1960: "The aim of our people is to wage a great battle
against illiteracy, with the ambitious goal of teaching every
illiterate on the island how to read and write next year and, with that
purpose in mind, organizations made up of teachers, students, and
workers, that is, the entire people, are getting ready for an intense
campaign, and Cuba will be the first country in Latin America that, in
a few months, will be able to day it doesn’t have a single illiterate."

Shortly after, an army of mostly young people set off to all corners of
the archipelago. Its members found, in that new task of the revolution,
their battle in the Sierra Maestra. The figure of one million
illiterates began its countdown, until it reached a minimum.

Once this feat was achieved, a UNESCO report, released by officials
that made up a mission to analyze the methods used in Cuba to eradicate
illiteracy, included this statement: "The campaign was not a miracle,
but a difficult victory obtained by way of hard work, excellent
technique and organization."

In those days, scarcely a few hours after announcing Melena del Sur as
the first illiteracy-free territory, the commander-in-chief made it
clear, "To eradicate illiteracy was only a first step, new battles will
follow."

The maxim of Cuban National Hero Jose Marti, "To educate is to prepare
man for life," was followed. Then, volunteer teachers were trained and
educational services were extended to the entire country. The
motivation of shedding light on ignorance, of bringing education to
people in the most remote areas of the island, made it possible for a
large number of adolescents to join the Manuel Ascunce Domenech
Teaching Brigade.

Other organizations and institutions emerged: The Ernesto Che Guevara
and Augusto Cesar Sandino contingents of internationalist teachers,
boarding schools, schools in the countryside, and vocational
institutes. The teaching program for workers and students represented
an opportunity associated with the campaigns to raise educational
levels to sixth grade first, and later on to ninth. Cuba was turned
into a giant classroom, but it wasn’t enough.

CURRENT BATTLES

Deputy Minister of Education Rolando Forneiro Rodriguez highly values
the work of Cuban teachers, because despite the several material
difficulties that exist, they work hard and are self sacrificing. They
see their profession as an essential duty in favour of social
development, that deserves respect and admiration, he explains.

"The lack of teachers is evident across certain educational levels and
places. We are working non-stop to reverse this situation. We shouldn’t
forget that our aspiration to achieve higher quality education demands
efforts. Perhaps the best example is the national ration of 1 teacher
per every 20 students in elementary school, and 1 per every 15 in
junior high," said the deputy minister.

Forneiro Rodriguez also said that a qualitative change will take place
over the next few years, when newly trained teachers gain experience,
and the changes put into practice bear the expected fruit: more quality
education levels for students. "There are reasons to work with
optimism. More than ever, students are the center of attention, and we
already have the necessary conditions: school materials, including
texts, software, videos, television classes and, more importantly, the
devotion of teachers."

The indexes shown by Cuba in the field of education are quite
astonishing, since they are common to First World nations. Today,
public expenditure in this sphere, as a percentage of the GDP, is
around 10 percent -- the highest among countries in the region, and
registration rates for primary school exceed 95 percent, meeting the UN
Millennium Objectives.

The revolution’s philosophy has always been that of offering solidarity
in various fronts to Third World nations. Thus, over the last few
years, the Cuban "Yes I Can" literacy program has been applied in more
than 15 countries, and has already benefited more than 2 million people.

Encouraging results, which confirm the right of all Cubans to
education, have been obtained with the program to universalize higher
education. To this end, so far there are 3,150 Municipal university
faculties with some 747,564 students enrolled.