Cubanalysis states the following on education in Cuba:
"Thus it can be said that, as with infant mortality, Cuba has maintained its high ranking within Latin America; it has not become a top achiever from a poor beginning."
Here again, Cubanalysis disregards distribution and sudden leaps to mislead the reader. It tries to have the readers believe that the revolutionary government of Cuba merely maintained the high educational achievements established and maintained by colonial governments.
In order to correctly assess the achievements of the revolution on education it is necessary to compare the state of education, totals and distribution, between pre-revolutionary Cuba and after. Here is what the figures reveal:
Although the rate of illiteracy in Cuba declined from an average of 43.8% in 1899 to 23.6% in 1953, the total numbers of illiterates increased by 342,000 from 1899 to 1953.
In 1953, 25% of all children did not attend school and 50% had not completed a 6th grade education. 84% of all children between 6-9 years of age could not recognize the letters of the alphabet. 23% of all persons above 10 years of age were illiterate.
During the same year, the rate of semi-illiteracy was 50-60%.
Even these figures do not completely reflect the abysmal state of education in Cuba before the revolution. Distribution reveals a much higher total and rate of illiteracy in the rural than in the urban areas.
Unlike the city, children in the rural areas were outside the reach of education and in the rare cases where schools were accessible, 6 grades were taught in a single area. There were not enough schools, teachers or textbooks.
Illiteracy in the rural areas of Cuba was almost double the national rate. 41.7% of the rural and 11.6% of the urban populations were illiterate.
The total percentage of illiterate children between 10-14 years of age was 31.8%; in the countryside it was 49%.
In Oriente province the rate of illiteracy among children between 6 and 9 was 81.2%; in the province of Havana it was 44.5%.
The revolutionary government of Cuba declared 1961 to be the Year of
Education. First, The Literacy Campaign registered 929,000 illiterates
throughout the country, the rural areas being the primary target. Then, a
massive campaign was launched to teach reading and writing, including
Haitians, the mentally incapacitated, and those who did not want to
learn.
As a result, the illiteracy rate dropped from 23.6 to 3.9 in 1962. In
the same year, only 3 provinces (out of 7) had illiteracy rates above the
national average. In averages and distribution, Cuba virtually eliminated
illiteracy in less than one year, a unique case in the history of education
in any country in the world.
According to Sociology Professor, Nelson Valdes, rates of enrollment for the primary, secondary and higher education are a better indicator of educational development than illiteracy rates.
The figures show that more students were enrolled in primary education in 1923 than in 1953. In fact, Cuba ranked 17 in primary school enrollment among all Latin American countries, during the mid fifties.
49% of Cuban children ages 6-14 had no education while the average was 36% in Latin America.
Only 24.2% of the population of 15 years and over had attended school.
75% of all Cubans failed to complete primary school.
53% of all Cubans never went beyond the third grade, 44% had 4-11 grade education and only 3% had been educated from the 12th grade to three years of college.
Only 1% of Cubans finished college and less than half that figure received a degree.
25% did not attend school and 50% did not complete sixth grade.
Only 10% of urban workers and 3% of sugar workers completed high school or vocational school.
The children of city workers attended school for 120 days to receive only 2 hours of classes. As a rule, they did not complete primary schooling.
Nationwide, 44% of all children 6-14 could not attend school. In the rural zones of Oriente province it was 73.1%. Yet, 35.5% of all children in the cities of that province did not attend school.
Are these figures what Cubanalysis calls a "good beginning"? Let's compare them after the victory of the revolution:
Following the literacy campaign, the revolutionary government of Cuba
instituted the Worker-Farmer Education program. The objective was to elevate
the level of adult education of workers and farmers who had successfully
completed literacy. First, workers were offered courses to complete a 3rd and
6th grade education. Next, they could choose a
secondary, vocational or a
university education.
In 1958, 27,000 adults were enrolled in adult education programs. By 1962, 492,000 adults had enrolled in the Worker-Farmer Education program, an 1800% increase. Then, in 1964 enrollment climbed 66% to 818,000. In 1968, 578,444 adults completed their secondary education.
Average enrollment in Primary Education for the colonial period of 1955-1958 was 743,000. From 1959, the year of the triumph of the revolution, to 1962, enrollment soared 76% to an average of 1,304,655 students.
In 1959 49% of children between the ages of 5 and 12 were not going to school. From 1959 to 1970 enrollment climbed to twice the number of children already attending school.
Secondary Education enrollment tripled between 1958 and 1968.
The accomplishments of the revolution in Higher Education appear less
spectacular than primary and secondary education for the first ten years of
revolution. One of the causes is that changes may not yield the desired
results until far into the future. Nevertheless, higher education
enrollment in Cuba doubled from 1958 to 1970.
In 1958, Cuba appropriated 77 million pesos for education. But, In 1959, the revolutionary government spent 90 million pesos.
From 1961 through 1969 the revolutionary government gradually increased expenditures to 275 million pesos, or 4 times the amount in 1958. By 1967 education expenditures were 19% of the national budget.
| Level | 1958 | 1969 |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | 7,567 | 14,726 |
| Secondary | 171 | 416 |
| Vocational | 73 | 127 |
In 1958, 15,698 students received scholarships in Cuba. In 1959, the revolutionary government instituted a new scholarship program which included free instructions, textbooks, school supplies, room, board, clothing, health care and a monthly allowance. By 1970 the number of students in the program had steadily multiplied to 18 times the 1958 figure representing an enrollment of 1 for every 9 students.
Sociologist Professor and Cuba researcher, Nelson P. Valdes, summarizes his assessment of education in 1970 revolutionary Cuba:
"The changes that have occurred in Cuban education since 1959 have been
positive in many respects. Children no longer roam the streets. In Cuba the
state provides a free education -including lunch and materials- for every
child of school age, while in the rest of Latin America 22 million children
have no schools. Elementary education is compulsory. Workers and peasants
have an educational opportunity unprecedented in Cuban history.
Scholarships are widely available. The universalization of education and the
mobilization of the entire population has been extremely efficient."
According to UNESCO, the current average teacher-student ratio
internationally is one teacher for every 103 inhabitants, adding that
two-thirds of these teachers do not have the necessary training. Cuba has now
the highest rate of teachers per capita in the world, with one for
every
42 inhabitants.
Comparative rankings among Latin American nations are at best a crude portrayal of the adequacy of education and health services. Average figures and limited criteria can not provide a true picture, when the distribution of facilities and personnel are excluded from the measurement.
Cubanalysis erroneously compares the sanitation environment of country as a measure of its health care performance. Cubanalysis further concludes from this faulty comparison that Cuba's current high ranking is an extension of the high quality of health and education services provided in pre-revolutionary Cuba.
On education, Cubanalysis ignores the enormous differences of its own figures on illiteracy, before and after the revolution, to reach the same erroneous conclusion.
A valid analysis requires scientific objectivity, in addition to a correct methodology. Cubanalysis failed in this regard as shown by its biased speculation of abortion in Cuba.
The health of a people depends on their sanitary conditions. The
Performance of health care depends on the availability of hospitals,
physicians and medicine. Similarly, the education of a people is reflected by
their literacy rate and school enrollment numbers. Most important, the
degree of performance of both services depends on how well all these
factors are distributed among the population.
The application of a correct methodology shows that the dramatic
improvements in health care and education after 1959 were the direct
consequence of the Cuban revolutionary process. The outstanding improvements
in the distribution of health care and education among the
population of
Cuba eliminated the inequalities characteristic of the uneven development in
Latin American countries.
All the valid indicators of progress show that, from an abysmal performance during the US colonial period, education and health care in Cuba made enormous progress in less than 10 years of revolutionary transformation.
Despite a brutal economic blockade, today Cuba continues to expand and improve human services, ranking high, if not first, among the top performers of education and health services world wide.
Luis Martin
May 7,
1999
Albuquerque, NM