Cuban children began the new school year Tuesday with shortages of teachers, food and uniforms and often no electricity as the island endures a crippling US pressure campaign.
At the Maria Cabrales Elementary School in the Havana area, kids filed into class without the typical bell-ringing or music to welcome them. School lunches, cleaning supplies and other needs associated with a lack of running water are up to parents to deal with. The country’s deep energy crisis has forced the education ministry to be more flexible about school hours and uniforms. The pay is so low that many seek work elsewhere, or have joined an exodus of people trying to leave the island altogether. Blackouts and fuel shortages meant lots of pupils attended class remotely and the school year ended early.
The neighborhood had not had electricity for 28 hours. The government says it failed to cover 25 percent of the teaching positions this year, with a particularly bad shortage in Havana. As many as 300 teachers from other provinces have transferred to the capital. At the Maria Cabrales school, principal Regla Maria Perera, 64, said there is an art to running a school that has no electricity and is not blessed with good natural light.
Last year was bad, too. The list of today’s woes goes on: Cuban roads and other infrastructure are in a decrepit state, no gasoline means no school buses, and there is a shortage of teachers.
