CIENFUEGOS, Cuba. – Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, First Vice-President of the Councils of State and Ministers, presided this Monday in Cienfuegos the opening of 2017-2018 school year.

Together with Lidia Esther Brunet Nodarse, First Secretary of the Party in that province, Julio Camacho Aguilera, commander of the Rebel Army, and Ena Elsa Velazquez, Minister of Education, Diaz Canel gave recognitions to outstanding workers and collectives.

Rafael Maria de Mendive Medal and the status of Exemplary Educator were among those distinctions.

During the ceremony at Martín Dihígo High School in Cienfuegos, it was highlighted the investment work in the construction and repair of the schools in the territory, which improves comfort and contributes to the quality of teaching.

To Form Men and Women Worthy of the Revolution

The biggest challenge of this course is in the classroom, Diaz-Canel said in the opening of the new academic period.

He assured the conditions are created, and every classroom and school must be turned into the pleasant and ennobling place where the future of the country and the formation of the men and women worthy of the revolution are.

As he toured the facilities of the Martin Dihigo High School, in Cienfuegos, the Cuban First Vice President verified the quality of the capital rehabilitation of the center, a good example to the country.

In the Computer Room Diaz-Canel declared that opening the school year in Cienfuegos was very significant, because it was on the eve of the anniversary 60 of the popular uprising of September 5.

New Programs and Teaching Methodology in the Beginning of the Academic Period

Among the relevant issues of this school year in Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel mentioned the incorporation of more than seven thousand graduates of pedagogical careers.
The future of teaching in the country begins to strengthen with twenty-five thousand students of Pedagogy of upper middle level, figures that we did not have at other times, through well-established courses and consolidated, the leader pointed out.

Diaz-Canel indicated that the improvement of the country’s educational system reaches 152 centers, where the commitment to establish new programs, contents, and teaching methodology is assumed.

Ena Elsa Velazquez Cobiella, Minister of Education, also expressed a congratulatory message and welcome to all teachers and students in this new school year.