Cuba faces deficit of pedagogical professionals

According to the head of the Ministry of Education, Naima Trujillo, the creation of a national center for pedagogical training and specialization is a novel experience that is part of the set of decisions to be implemented by the Ministry in 2024.

During the annual meeting of the agency’s performance, Trujillo announced that this national center seeks emerging results with students in their last year of pedagogical careers throughout the country.

The initiative addresses one of the essential problems for this field, specifically professional training, which has a high implication in the rest of the difficulties in the sector, the minister said.

The aforementioned center should respond to the urgency of professional training in the pedagogical area, considering that the completion of the labor force, its professionalization, and permanence in the educational system are not guaranteed.

According to the Presidency of Cuba website, during the meeting, the MINED’s strategic cycle for 2024 was reviewed. It includes five fundamental objectives, two of which are to strengthen the training, improvement, and care of managers and teachers, and to raise the quality of the educational process.

In addition, they will develop digitalization and institutional communication, strengthen the training of the qualified workforce at the higher secondary level and guarantee the assurance of technological, material, and financial resources. At the meeting, the Cuban head of State, Miguel Díaz-Canel, urged constant improvement also of the living conditions of teachers and general education workers in Cuba.

To this end, the president called for exploring all possible options to improve the attention of teachers, both at school and personally, in the country’s desire to dignify this sensitive work.

Teachers and professors in their daily activities should have the time to prepare themselves and teach a good class, to have access to master’s and doctorate options, among other forms of professional improvement, the President said.

In turn, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero ratified the government’s support to continue carrying out the planned maintenance of the sector’s buildings, guaranteeing the supply of uniforms and school materials for the next school year, in addition to all possible alternative solutions.

Marrero stressed that despite the complex economic situation of the Caribbean nation, the Cuban State confirms that education will continue to be one of the main conquests of the Revolution.