“Without education there is no possible revolution”: a phrase by Fidel that still resonates in schools and educational centers all over Cuba. The Historical Leader of the Revolution is remembered for his extensive work on behalf of education on the island. From his early days as a young fighter, he conceived this as an essential aspect of the development of any nation and included it in his historical self-defense argument: History will absolve me as one of the main social problems of 1953 Cuba.
At the revolutionary triumph, the transformations in this sphere did not wait. In a short time, hundreds of barracks were opened to receive children and youth as schools. What was once death was opening up as certainty of a hopeful future.
Instruction was taken to the most intricate corners of our geography, with an unprecedented literacy campaign that taught numbers and letters to previously forgotten sectors. The university environment also experienced its own transformation, and thousands of new professionals were trained in universities that once only welcomed a few.
Today, with a centralized educational system and free training for all Cubans, Fidel’s footprint in this area is obvious. However, the Fidelist vision of education was not limited to free access and the construction of new schools, but to the decisive role of this in the future of the nation.
For Fidel, education was more than the mother tongue and basic sciences; it was a way of promoting values, of rescuing history and traditions, of honoring his country, of making a commitment to the future. Education was equivalent to defending the Revolution.
At the present time, thousands of teachers are still betting on this path despite financial difficulties and the urgency of everyday life. They work on the idea of equipping new generations with the tools necessary for science and innovation, but also for virtue and humanism.
A few weeks after starting a new school year, and overcoming many obstacles, education in Cuba is reinvented and resurgent according to the premise of those years of multiple transformations. This is the best way to wield arms and at the same time a reminder of Fidel’s imprint as a revolutionary and educator.
