Why Cuba is an education success story and what it can teach Africa
December 11, 2015 3.07pm AEDT
Author Clive Kronenberg PhD and Research Fellow, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Disclosure statement
Clive Kronenberg works for The Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He has received institutional funding to
conduct research, and hereby acknowledges CPUT's 2015 URF Award.
Education is free in Cuba, and is one of the island nation’s top priorities. Desmond Boylan/Reuters
Cuba takes education very seriously. It became a top priority after Fidel Castro became prime minister in 1959 and
this helped the country shake its mantle as the most unequal of the Hispanic Caribbean territories during both the
colonial and post colonial early 20th century periods.
The foundations of Castro’s new social – and socialist – order were premised on the common understanding that only
good-quality, empowering education could conquer Cuba’s acute poverty, ignorance and underdevelopment.
Cuba invested heavily to make its education system world class. By the 1980s and 1990s, the country’s educational
disbursements as a ratio of gross domestic product were among the highest in the world.
Cuba has much to teach Africa about prioritising and reforming education. Its approach to education has made a
unique contribution to social change. There are valuable lessons here for the continent and, as more than a decade of
my research has shown, particularly for South Africa.
There are three major methods through which Cuba revolutionised teaching and learning after Castro’s socialist
government came to government.
1. Literacy
The first was its celebrated 1961 Literacy Campaign, which marked in concrete terms the importance of education for
an embattled society in transition. In the space of barely one year, one million illiterate people were targeted by
mobilising 250,000 literacy teachers and thousands of devoted school children.
By the end of 1961, 75% of those one million had achieved rudimentary literacy. There were extensive follow-ups
concentrating also on adult education.
2. Access for all
While the literacy drive was underway, school enrolments grew rapidly – and more than doubled a decade later. This
was largely because education at all levels, including university and college, became free of charge.
The government launched programs for peasant girls, domestic workers, prostitutes and those who had dropped out
before finishing school. These, along with the newly founded Organisation of Day Care Centres, sought to ensure that
education was accessible to all. The programmes also targeted those living in remote and isolated rural communities.
Cubans’ hard work has paid off. Since the mid-1990s net primary admission has been 99% for both girls and boys,
compared to 87% in the Latin American region. At that time, 94% of Cuban primary students reached grade 5,
contrasting steeply with 74% in the region. Gross secondary enrolments were 78% for boys and 82% for girls,
compared to 47% and 51% in the region.
3. Teachers matter
Cuba knows the importance of good teachers. During extensive fieldwork, I discovered that its teacher training
institutions use wherever possible only the most-advanced, well-researched scientific teaching methods and strategies.
Students generally are accepted as trainee teachers if they possess the virtues of intellect, good character, a proven
commitment to social development and love for children.
At the turn of the millennium Cuba boasted the highest number of teachers per capita worldwide, 1:42. At the 2015
International Pedagogia Conference in Havana I was told by educational officials that the country’s student:teacher
ratio as of 2015 is an astonishing 12:1.
Education for social change
Cuba’s methods are respected and applied way far beyond the island’s boundaries. By 2010 its literacy method had
been adopted in 28 Latin American, Caribbean, African, European, and Oceanic countries. Its use had qualified
millions of formerly unschooled people the world over to read and write.
From my discussions with Cuban education officials during research trips, it is obvious that the country wants
struggling countries to learn from its experiences. They say it is deplorable that nearly 800 million people, two-thirds
of them women, are illiterate around the world. It is likewise unpardonable that nearly 70 million children do not have
access to basic schooling.
Ordinary Cubans and government officials alike argue that people’s minds must be highly developed for them to
contribute to a world free of fear, ignorance and disease. Education, ultimately, empowers human beings to become
seekers and guardians of progress and peace.
The Cuban government’s steadfast commitment to education is irrefutable. The island’s relatively modest economy
makes its educational triumphs all the more astonishing. This sets the objective basis for more in-depth scrutiny of its
methods, particularly by struggling nations.
After all, Cuba’s accomplishments are not a miracle or a coincidence. They are the outcome of years of devoted work,
sacrifice and meeting crucial commitments on highly effective terms.
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