The call to young people was made public on April 22, 1960. Fidel called that youth with the desire to take knowledge to the intricate places of the nation; a thousand teachers were needed to teach peasant children, and the men and women of the countryside themselves to be useful in any task.
The attitude was essential, to live with the souls of the countryside was the word of order to exchange experiences and infuse them with knowledge.
Towards the lands of Minas del Frio, where the young rebels studied without pay for the first three months, it was the test of attitude, will, and vocation that had an immediate response.
Thousands of young people took the step forward for the formation of three pedagogical contingents in intricate zones; excellent teachers gave classes of pedagogy, psychology, general culture, military and political preparation, at the time of long walks between rivers and mountains, as a test of physical endurance to carry the instruction booklet.
Illiteracy was being left behind, to teach to read, to write, to express oneself, to learn about our history, to erase the dark side of ignorance, to send out the first volunteer teachers with the presence of the eldest Father.
The audacious idea came to fruition in less than a year, with 3,500 teachers committed to the common good. Children and adults from inhospitable parts of the country welcomed the bright light.
In that army of volunteers, Cuba lost Conrado Benitez, only 18 years old, in the Escambray hills, murdered by enemy hatred. The mountains shone with the educational task that grew like an ear of corn looking for the sun.
Fidel and his people do not forget those young Cubans of the 60s of the last century, inspirers of today’s pedagogical generation, which is continuity, example of consecration and multiplied knowledge, who without sparing effort are part of the Cuban teaching profession in the years of the Revolution.
