EDUCATION IN CUBA
ELIAN IN CUBA CHILDREN OF CUBA THE PIONEERS
According to the results of the first studies performed by the Latin American Center for the Evaluation of the Quality of Education (organization of UNESCO):
On exams given by this organization, Cuban students achieved scores which nearly doubled the scores of it's closest competitors in mathematics and literature.
In this study by this UN org. which took place from May to December 1997, approximately 4000 students from 3rd and 4th grade of 100 schools selected at random participated. The test was based on a maximum score of 400. The average test scores was 250 with Cuba being the only country to significantly surpass this score in both urban and rural schools. It was significant as well to note that Cuban students surpassed by a large margin the results obtained by private schools; schools which have access to much funding and resources.
In 1994 UNESCO in an effort to achieve a better and just educational system iniciated with regional offices in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC), the Center for the Evaluation of the Quality of Education. There are currently 14 countries members of this org., with Cuba becoming a member in August of 1995. There are other countries which are soliciting membership. The objectives of this org. is to set up regional educational standards and goals, to further enhance their studies and evaluations, and to aid educational ministries in different countries set up programs to evaluate the quality of education within their country.
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AVERAGE % CORRECT IN
MATHEMATICS AND LANGUAGES
IN THE UN STUDY
MATHEMATICS LANGUAGE
GRADES GRADES
|
COUNTRY |
3 |
4 |
|
CUBA |
83,1 | 84,2 |
|
ARGENTINA |
47,3 |
58,1 |
|
BRAZIL |
47,3 |
58,1 |
|
BOLIVIA |
46,3 |
47,0 |
|
CHILE |
45,6 |
55,8 |
|
COLOMBIA |
44,2 |
52,0 |
|
PARAGUAY |
41,2 |
47,8 |
DOM. REPUBLIC |
38,6 |
41,2 |
|
HONDURAS |
35,3 |
41,4 |
|
VENEZUELA |
34,9 |
38,8 |
|
COUNTRY |
3 |
4 |
|
CUBA |
87,4 |
88,7 |
|
ARGENTINA |
60,7 |
71,1 |
|
BRAZIL |
57,2 |
66,3 |
|
BOLIVIA |
43,3 |
46,1 |
|
CHILE |
60,7 |
71,1 |
|
PARAGUAY |
44,8 |
52,7 |
|
DOM. REPUBLIC |
43,1 |
48,2 |
|
HONDURAS |
40,6 |
46,7 |
|
VENEZUELA |
50,0 |
55,2 |
New report:
Extracted from
The New York Times 12/14/01
Cuba leads Latin America in primary
education, study finds
BY CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
WASHINGTON.- Cuba, a Marxist nation with profound economic difficulties, leads Latin America in primary education, a regional task force has found.
In test scores, completion rates and literacy levels, Cuban primary students are at or near the top of a list of peers from across Latin America, the task force reported.
Indeed, the performance of Cuban third and fourth graders in math and language so dramatically outstripped that of other nations that the United Nations agency administering the test returned to Cuba and tested students again, according to a coordinator of the study.
"They went back to Cuba and retested because there was some anomaly," said Jeff Puryear, the co-director of the Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the Americas, which helped organize the task force. "This is a good, solid, reliable comparison."
The task force highlighted the results of the first region-wide test of primary students, which was administered in 1998 by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.
"Cuba far and away led the region in third- and fourth-grade mathematics and language achievement," the panel said. "Even the lowest fourth of Cubans students performed above the regional average."
Cuba’s educational system, along with health care, has been a priority of the government of President Fidel Castro since the early days of the revolution four decades ago.
The findings are especially remarkable since the island has lived under an American economic embargo for decades and lost its Soviet patron – and billions of dollars in subsidies – a decade ago, plunging Cubans into a period of austerity, blackouts and food shortages. Government planners say they have diverted funds from other areas to bolster schools and hospitals, which nonetheless have deteriorated.
The findings for the rest of Latin America were grim. The study, which is to be presented Friday by the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, reported that quality remains low, inequality remains high and few schools are accountable to parents and local communities.
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