Cuba opened on Monday the 2025-2026 school year with the incorporation of more than one and a half million students in more than 10,000 educational centers and in the midst of a panorama marked by celebrations, but also by structural deficiencies.
In statements to the press, the Minister of Education, Naima Trujillo, acknowledged that the beginning occur in “particularly complex circumstances” due to the crisis that crosses the country.
Trujillo stressed that “no matter what we lack, the most important thing is how much we have left: we have plenty of effort, preparation, sensitivity and humanism,” he said EFE.
The Cuban News Agency (UNHC) stressed that the national act took place in the Pedagogical School Tania La Guerrilla, in Pinar del Río, founded 50 years ago by Fidel Castro, of which more than 10,000 students have graduated.
There 779 students from four academics and 15 specialties joined this Monday.
Absence of teachers at the beginning of the school year in Cuba
The teacher deficit remains one of the main challenges. EFE He said that while provinces such as Santiago de Cuba and Pinar del Río achieve coverage of almost 100 %, In Havana and Sancti Spíritus one in three places remains vacant.
To this are added the difficulties derived from the shortage of materials, school uniforms and the precarious constructive state of several schools.
He Teaching staff problem has been accentuated by Low wages, the migration of professionals to the private sector and the exodus of teachers outward.
The 2025-2026 school year will begin in Cuba with maintenance in schools and lack of teachers
Another problem through the school year is the lack of uniforms and basic materials.
According to the Light Industry Business Group, only the production of 2.2 million of the scheduled 3.6 million could be financed, forced to prioritize students who start the educational cycle.
“This is the second consecutive course in which we fail to give the uniforms of continuity, which begins to have a stronger effect on the family,” Trujillo acknowledged in statements to Cubadebate.
However, the reunion atmosphere marked the day. The ACN He stressed that, as every September, “again the classrooms will host the joy of students who meet after summer and those who want to meet new friendships.”
