Help us keep OnCuba alive here
Cuban Minister of Education Ena Elsa Velázquez announced this Friday that the 2019-2020 school year, interrupted due to confinement, one of the measures imposed to deal with the presence of the coronavirus, will resume on September 1 at all levels of education, while the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year will take place two months later.
According to the official, the post-COVID-19 recovery strategy designed by the Ministry of Education foresees that during this first phase, officials and workers will join educational institutions until July 18, although they will enjoy the vacation period from July 20 until August 22.
Before returning to the classrooms, it will be essential to prepare the conditions, emphasizing the elimination of overcrowding and compliance with hygienic-sanitary measures, in coordination with government and health authorities, she said.
In the second phase, the teaching activities will be resumed and the evaluations will be carried out to finish the 2019-2020 school year, which will run until October 31. Two days later, the 2020-21 school year will begin.
The minister also referred to the sale of uniforms, warning that the fabric for their production is imported, so the situation in this regard “has been complex.”
“If it isn’t possible to guarantee all the uniforms, we will at least seek to complete those of new enrollees, that is, those who are going from one level to the other,” said the official.
During her television appearance, Ena Elsa Velázquez pointed out that more than 6,600 children attend childcare centers today, and that the process of adaptation and granting of places will gradually restart.
El trabajo integrado de la red de universidades de @CubaMES con aporte de sus autoridades académicas permitió definir como continuar el proceso docente tal y como lo explicó el Ministro en la TV esta tarde, ahora resta prepararse bien y evitar más contagios pic.twitter.com/s0K2xcH6H7
— Miriam Alpizar Santana (@MiriamAlpizar1) June 20, 2020
Higher education
In the case of higher education, students and teachers will also return to the classrooms of 22 universities on September 1 (in the second phase) and from then on adjustments will be made to finish subjects, make career changes and final, extraordinary and end-of-course exams.
Minister of Higher Education José Ramón Saborido said that the graduation of 21,066 professionals is expected in the 2019-2020 academic year and he announced that the new course (2020-2021) will open on November 23.
EFE/ACN