Parliament Highlights Role of Schools in Community Transformation

Cuban Education Minister, Ena Elsa Velázquez, stressed today at the Parliament''s ninth regular session the importance of turning schools into centers for transforming the community.

Speaking to the Commission on Education, Culture, Science, Technology and Environment of the National Assembly, she called to recognize education as the main element in community work.

The Ministry places community work as a priority, added Velázquez, who assured that about 140,000 people have been contacted as a result of these exchanges with the base.

Having schools with trained teachers, with discipline and students showing appropriate behavior, is an achievement of community work, she noted.

In 2014 we passed a resolution to achieve greater responsibility for the school and its openness to the community, but not everything is achieved, expressed the minister.

In those schools where there is greater participation of the community, we see a better role for our students, she added.

According to the Minister of Education, the Educate Your Child program is an example of such work within the communities. It serves 68 percent of children ages 0 to 5 and prepares families before entering schools.

Chaired by the first Cuban Vice-President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, the aforementioned commission evaluated community cultural work and the impact of the joint work of social actors in the community.

This is Parliament's ninth ordinary session in its eighth parliamentary term.