Photos: Courtesy of Sandra Bellido

Holguin Pays Tribute to the Pioneers of Education in Cuba

Some stories are timeless, etched with the firmness of chalk on a blackboard and the fervor of youth. In the heart of Holguin, the respectful dimness of the Sala Patria—located in the historic La Periquera Provincial Museum-. Hosted a moving meeting with the nation’s living memory. The Cuban Association of Educators paid tribute to those who, decades ago, ignited the light of knowledge in the most remote corners of the country.

That space, imbued with symbolism and dedicated to the thought of the historical leader Fidel Castro Ruz. Served as the setting to evoke one of the most profound human epics of the Cuban revolutionary process. As part of the activities commemorating the centenary of his birth. Also the wrinkled but smiling faces of the literacy volunteers and teachers of the 1960s revived the epic story of having brought primers and lanterns to the most remote rural areas.

Holguin Pays Tribute to the Pioneers of Education in Cuba 0

Amid applause and shared nostalgia, the day brought to the present the insurgent courage of the volunteer teachers. Those first young people who went to the Sierra Maestra and the Escambray Mountains when rural education was a distant dream.

To them was added the cherished memory of the literacy volunteers. The young men and women of the Conrado Benítez Brigades who in 1961 defeated illiteracy. Along with the legacy of the Makarenko teachers, trained under the ideals of the Soviet pedagogue Anton Makarenko. Also to integrate work, community, and conscious discipline in primary education.

Each hug given during the ceremony recognized a lifetime dedicated to the classroom and to social transformation. Those educators, who transformed teaching into a true bastion of duty. Heard the commitment of new generations of teachers. Determined to safeguard in the modern classroom that same vocation of service, ethics, and dedication with which their mentors paved the way.

By: Daimy Peña Guillén

Radio Angulo
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