SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The Minister of Education, Naima Ariatne Trujillo Barreto acknowledged that the solution to dealing with the shortage of teachers in Cuba will be, in the future, to reduce the number of schools.
In line with the demographic dynamics of the countrywhich tend to lead to a decrease in births and, therefore, to fewer children attending schools, the authorities will have to reorganize the school network, the minister said to the press official premises.
“As there are fewer children, we will reduce the number of schools and we will have a lower need for teachers. In that context, we will be able to place greater emphasis on the quality of the professional,” he said about the complex scenario that lies ahead. glimpse Today in the country, with a shortage of teachers and poor quality in the teaching-learning process.
The lack of teacher availability has led the Ministry of Education to interrupt the training cycle of students studying teaching degrees, in order to place them in front of a classroom at an early age.
“There was no other option. But that also has a cost on the professional skills of many teachers and on the quality of the teaching-learning process,” the official told the media. Invader.
The quality of the classes
In statements Escambray He pointed out that the shortage of stable and competent teachers has had an impact on the lack of quality in the educational teaching process.
In this regard, he added that many students need to re-evaluate exams, mainly in pre-university and secondary schools, and there are knowledge gaps that affect grades in entrance exams for higher education.
According to the official, one of the solutions to encourage the training of students in teaching careers is to increase salaries and vocational training geared towards these careers.
“Nobody can calculate the working hours of our teachers, because they simply spend the whole day educating and training. What is wrong with paying valuable colleagues? Well, that is one of the criteria we are working on today,” he said.
However, it is not just about that, but also about ensuring that these students remain in the classrooms until they graduate.
The challenges
“Then we must take on the greatest challenge, one of the greatest challenges facing Cuba today, in general, in all sectors: motivating young people to practice their professions, so that they do not abandon the classroom, the doctor’s office or the industry, attracted by the better salaries paid by the new economic actors or by the opportunities they find beyond national borders when they decide to emigrate,” he concluded.
The provinces most affected by the absence of teachers are Havana, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Matanzas, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey, mainly in basic secondary schools and in vocational pre-university institutes of exact sciences (IPVCE).
In this context, during the next academic year, the MINED will host the Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (ERCE), which measures learning achievements in the Latin American and Caribbean region. The pilot test will be carried out in October and the research will be undertaken in May.
“The ERCE will take place at a very complex stage in the country,” the minister said.
The Observatory of Academic Freedom (OLA) recently published its fortieth reportwhere it indicates that there is evidence of a “process of dismantling democratic educational establishments and their replacement by ‘factories’ of teacher-soldiers, an instrument of indoctrination also directed towards foreign countries.”
In 2020, according to the Report on the State of Social Rights in Cubaprepared by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), the vast majority of the population considered that education was between “very bad and average.”
