Reaching out to the last child

If we have a child in the remotest corner of the country, we have a teacher over there.” This is not a statement from the minister of a...

If we have a child in the remotest corner of the country, we have a teacher over there.” This is not a statement from the minister of a country but from a Cuban tourist guide. It immediately brought to mind our policy statement, which provided for para teachers for children in inaccessible areas.

Cuba cannot be designated a “developed country” by western standards. The collapse of the USSR in the ’90s and the continued US embargo have taken a toll. However, Cuba can match any developed country in social indicators.

In 1959, Cuba had a illiteracy rate of 90 per cent. It eradicated illiteracy by converting military barracks into schools (contrast this with the police force occupying government schools for months and years in our troubled areas). All teachers were trained beforehand to ensure that children receive a minimum of nine years of mandatory schooling. School supplies, uniforms and meals are available to each child free of charge. But I did not see a single school bus. Every child attends schools in his/her neighbourhood.

Story continues below this ad

Cuba embarked upon another educational revolution two years ago, by reducing class size for primary children in the first six years of schooling to 20. If there is a shortage of classrooms, classes attended by more than 20 children have two teachers. For the next three years, there is one teacher for 15 students. Even at the secondary level, a teacher, instead of teaching a specific subject, has been trained to impart a comprehensive education to each group of 15 students. The teacher has technology support, and TV and video display facilities are available in each classroom. With this innovative initiative, Cuba has reduced the requirement of more teachers subject-wise for the same group of 30-40 children, ensuring that each teacher with “only 15 students under his/her charge can concentrate on getting to know pupils as individuals, meet their family and discover what their worries, dreams and prospects are”, as the education minister claims.

The reduced class size and emphasis on providing only well-trained teachers has increased the demand for new teachers, and a new educational training plan has recently been put in place. It is essentially of two parts: first year student teachers who are high school pass-outs get institutional training in the university, and in the intervening four years they work in the local school for five days a week. On the sixth day, they attend the training institution, with full teacher salary. On completing the programme, the young student teacher gets a degree to become a confirmed teacher.

By linking study with work, Cuba now claims one teacher for every 37 inhabitants. Our policy document calls for a teacher for a population of 200-300. After spending a week in Cuba, I kept asking myself, when will we able to say in India that we have a “teacher” even in the remotest of areas if there is a child?