Cuba calls for more cooperation in education.  (Photo: File/RHC)

Havana, October 6 (RHC)-- The Minister of Education of Cuba, Ena Elsa Velázquez, has called for taking advantage of the lessons learned during the confrontation with COVID-19 in the sector, and to collaborate in an Ibero-American Agenda for Cooperation in Education.

In a speech at the 27th Ibero-American Conference of Ministers of Education, the education minister called to continue advancing in a common basic curriculum for Ibero-American countries, to promote the production of media and resources for the digital transformation of the teaching process, and to share experiences and researches.

At the meeting, held virtually, Velázquez also commented on the experiences of the Caribbean nation during this stage, in which it was necessary to turn homes into schools and include families as part of the learning process.

Ena Elsa Velázquez said that it is a daily challenge for Cuba to maintain a universal and free education system, under a "brutal intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States," which has not ceased for almost six decades.

In spite of this, and the health emergency caused by SARS-CoV-2, Cuba guarantees educational continuity, for which the aministry made use of the capacities created over the years and the existing means and technologies.

In this sense, she pointed out the availability of a television channel of national scope and a production house of computer and audiovisual resources, which guarantees the necessary contents to support teachers.

She also highlighted the telematic network of the organization and its educational portal (www.cubaeduca.cu), which allows to save the productions and resources of the production house, as well as the contributions of teachers and researchers in the country.

The Cuban Minister of Education pointed out that, in this period, the work has been supported by the results of the Third Improvement of the National System, as well as the necessary curricular adaptations, both for the culmination of school year 2019-2020, and for the development of 2020-2021.

Other aspects, such as the transmission of all educational programming with the support of sign language and other facilities for the inclusion of school children with special educational needs, in addition to the creation of an application for cell phones, were addressed during the intervention.