Dyagmaris Gómez’s son was happy to be able to go to school in street clothes due to the lack of uniforms, but after several months the novelty is no longer fun. In the classroom where the 12-year-old boy studies, in the city of Holguín, they do not let in those who wear clothes with flags, signs or famous brands.
“With how difficult it is to buy any clothes and now they are so demanding,” laments Gómez, who had to rip the label off some old jeans that her son wears to school because the American flag was visible on it. “They don’t sell uniforms for their size and on top of that they get exquisite with what each one can solve.”
Last Monday the new 2021-2022 school year began for junior high school and pre-university. Still marked by the restrictions of the pandemic, the return to classes has also had as a peculiarity the number of students who lack uniform and they make use of blouses, t-shirts or pants other than regulation clothing.
Uniformity has been for decades a feature in the way Cuban students dress. In a country where there is only the public education system, tightly controlled by the State, the Government tries to avoid at all costs that social differences can be expressed in the way students dress.
The lack of liquidity to buy raw materials is capsizing one of the strictest bastions of Cuban egalitarianism
But the lack of liquidity to buy raw materials is capsizing one of the strictest bastions of Cuban egalitarianism. C buy school uniforms it has become an increasingly distressing process for families. Official newspapers are forced to publish a sales schedule and schools distribute a voucher with the student’s name and other data to avoid informal business.
In the case of high school, this year the authorities introduced a change in the color of the lower garment, which has gone from being yellow to blue. However, the Ministry of Education could not guarantee the availability of skirts and pants of the new color, and now the classrooms are a mix between those who wear the new uniform, those who keep the old one and those who have neither. .
“Here in the city of Holguín they haven’t sold the new high school uniforms yet and when asked they say that they are distributing them in a staggered manner by territory, so it will take time to arrive,” Gómez explains to 14ymedio. “Every year the situation deteriorates more and I don’t know where we are going to end up,” she questions.
Crowded outside the José Luis Arruñada school, in the Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, this Monday the conversation of a group of mothers was none other than the issue of uniforms. In a previous meeting, the teachers suggested that families look for alternatives but also warned that they had to dress “appropriately” to enter the classroom.
As “adequate”, each school can understand a more or less strict set of rules. In some centers, clothes with signs in English, highly visible brands such as Adidas, Nike or Levi’s are not allowed, but also faces of celebrities, flags or allusions to them such as the red bars and American stars that are discarded.
Given the high demand, some stores based in Miami offer Cuban school clothes in almost identical copies and of better quality.
However, t-shirts with official references, Cuban political logos and pro-government phrases have no problem. “You can wear a sweater with the face of Díaz-Canel but they will not let you in if you wear one with a famous singer or a soccer player. It depends on how the director got up that day,” complained the father of a high school student. in Old Havana who had to return home because he was wearing one with the English flag.
“Even colors can be a problem. If a teenager wears a yellow sweater and blue pants right now, they tell him that he is supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion. This is what happened to a friend of my son and although he had no marks or signs, the teacher told him that he couldn’t get in that way. Everyone dictates the prohibitions they want.”
There is always the option order the uniform outside the Island. Given the high demand, some Miami-based stores offer Cuban school clothes in almost identical copies and of better quality. “They don’t want foreign brands or flags to be seen, but in the end we parents have to ask relatives who live abroad to send us the uniforms,” the man stresses.
“I already spoke with my sister so that she can buy me two complete changes of clothes for my son. Before the end of the month, one mule who brings them to me”, he explains. “They are from the Jordache brand but it is not noticeable because the label where it says so goes inside”.
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