| Cuba Widens Paths to Educational Advance
Roberto Pérez Betancourt ,AIN Special Service Cuba will continue expanding its educational pathways in the upcoming 2004 -2005 school year with a record 46,912 openings for university instruction and the consolidation of programs guided to strengthen academic quality at all teaching levels. This new figure means an increase by 6,000 new enrollment openings in relation to the previous school year. Indeed, all new high school graduates, as well as young people completing military service and workers meeting established requirements, will have the concrete possibility of enrolling in higher education. Other alternative paths to the university classroom, including programs for senior citizens, provide opportunities for 100 percent of those Cubans wanting to obtain a university degree to do so. This is in stark contrast to the situation prevailing in the rest of Latin America, where-according to statistical data-due to social and economic restrictions, barely 17 percent of those youths actually make it to the university. In Cuba, all citizens have access to free and equal educational opportunities, from pre-school to college, including the use of resources like laboratories, computers, libraries and others. Those in Cuba wishing to upgrade their educational level, including people with physical disabilities, only have to contribute their will and talent to get them to where their minds will allow. Of course, family support and encouragement continue to be extremely important for keeping youth in the educational system. This Cuban reality is recognized internationally and contrasts more and more to what happens in some developed countries, even in the United States, where the cost of tuition, books and other necessities are not affordable to lower and middle-income families. In addition, plans are underway for primary and secondary education in Cuba to continue improving their quality. The Ministry of Education works to maintain the teacher workforce at a level to ensure the current teacher-student ratio of 1 to 20 in elementary schools and 1 to 15 at the high school level. Education experts visiting Cuba point to the results achieved on the island in meeting educational goals set by the United Nations, aims yet to be attained in many Latin American countries under free market economies. Despite
the sustained economic and commercial blockade by the US government
and the recently announced measures by George Bush against Cuban families,
the paths to studying in Cuba are widening, as is the political will
guaranteeing the educational rights of all children, youth and adults.
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