From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [CubaNews] Fidel: We will revolutionize teaching December 19, 2001 FIDEL OPENS ONE OF A FURTHER 101 REBUILT SCHOOLS IN HAVANA We are going to revolutionize teaching BY LILLIAM RIERA (Granma International staff writer) PRESIDENT Fidel Castro expressed his conviction that Cuba will become the most advanced country in the world at distinct educational levels and stressed that currently it surpasses Latin America, other Third World nations and even certain developed countries at elementary level. "The means and resources exist to impart in one year 10 times the volume of knowledge than has historically been transmitted anywhere in the world," Fidel affirmed at the ceremony to mark the reopening of 101 schools in City of Havana that have been totally rebuilt. The central event at the Carlos Torre Junior High School in Playa municipality was attended by Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein in N. Ireland, who was on a three-day official visit to the country. The Cuban president recalled that in spite of the difficulties and crises scourging the world and affecting the island, the educational and other programs underway are all to be concluded in the anticipated time or before. "In a relatively short period," he stated, "we are going to radically revolutionize secondary education in our country and follow the same line through to university and technical levels." He announced that to date 201 capital schools have been repaired and 408 additional classrooms created. By the end of January or beginning of February 2002 a further 100 educational centers will be handed over and, by September, the plan of 659 schools and 2,000 classrooms will be completed, one year before the stipulated date. He noted that Havana�s 293 educational centers affected by Hurricane Michelle have been repaired and that 1,153 computers have been installed in schools powered by solar panels. He commented that there was nothing lavish about bringing panels and computers to those schools, even if there was only one pupil in them, but that it is a matter of justice. He recalled that plans are underway to reduce class size and that this goal should be reached within two years. "No more than 20 students per classroom has to be the rule," he stated. The two Havana provinces already have an educational television channel, which provides a service for some three million persons. A further one is to go out in Santiago de Cuba in the first quarter of next year, reaching a population of one million inhabitants. Fidel praised as valiant an article in The New York Times acknowledging Cuba as a Latin American leader in elementary education. The newspaper likewise admitted that that is the fruit of the revolutionary leadership dating back to early 1959, which has been possible in spite of the U.S. 42-year blockade of the island and the loss of its principal trading partner, the Soviet Union. Corroborated by the United Nations, the study demonstrated that Cuban third and fourth grade pupils� performance in Mathematics and Language "widely exceeds" that of other nations in the area. However, the Cuban leader pointed out that this situation not only affects Latin America and quoted the El Pa�s daily, which reported that Spanish high-school students figure among the worst, according to a report by the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OCED). At the same time, he read out other press reports commenting on the low quality of Mathematics and Science teaching in the United States and referring to cutbacks in funds directed to education, as well as the reduced number of teachers. -- _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
