Photo: University of Matanzas

By María Josefina Arce 

Gradually Cuba resumes its daily life, after almost two years of pandemic. Six hundred and twelve thousand 800 students returned to the classrooms on Monday, in addition to the more than 84 thousand students who have been attending classes since the first day of school.

The successful vaccination campaign being carried out in the country with immunosuppressants created by our scientists and which have demonstrated safety and high efficacy, has made possible the gradual resumption of the school year in the different levels of education, a process which will conclude on November 15 when the rest of the children and young people will return to school.

Thus, more than 90% of the students already have the complete immunization scheme or it will be concluded in the next few days, to guarantee their protection.

The return to schools is supported by the improvement of the epidemiological situation. In the country, admissions, serious, critical and deceased patients are decreasing, while those recovered and vaccinated are increasing.

However, although Cuba shows a control of the COVID-19, the safety of children, young people and teachers is not neglected; hence, the educational authorities remain attentive to the fulfillment of the hygienic-sanitary measures.

In this regard, the Cuban Minister of Education, Ena Elsa Velázquez emphasized that vaccination is not enough; it is essential to comply with all the guidelines to avoid contagion in educational facilities.

In the television program Mesa Redonda, the minister responded to certain concerns of families about some children who for various reasons have not been vaccinated.

In this sense, she emphasized that schools are safe environments, given the high rate of vaccination, the provisions adopted and that the children convalescing from the disease, as pointed out by the health authorities, have a percentage of immunity.

 In addition, before the return to the classroom, the state of these centers was supervised, the existing conditions for the compliance of the measures and their disinfection, since in many cases they were used as isolation centers, a strategy of the Government in order to avoid the increase of contagions and the spread of the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

It should be clarified that during all this time the students have not been disconnected from their studies. The Ministry of Education has ensured that they receive classes of the different subjects from their homes and even prepare the young people for the university entrance exams.

It has been a joint effort of the educational authorities, the Institute of Information and Social Communication, and ETECSA, Telecommunications Company, which guaranteed the Internet connection.

 Now, without neglecting their health and taking care of their protection, the students are gradually returning to the classrooms to continue their learning, which even under the most difficult conditions has been guaranteed by the Government.