By Roberto Morejón

Every beginning of the school year becomes an event in Cuba, both in the family and in society, because everyone contributes to provide the child or young person with the possible facilities.
 
After the accentuated changes in the previous school years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Cuba resumes in September all the cycles.
 
In order to achieve this, they have been working for months in order to have the material guarantees, even if they are minimal, since they are aware of the difficulties of this type in the country, mainly due to the U.S. blockade.
 
Even with these shortages, the nation has created the conditions for most of the schools to open their doors with the required teachers, books, notebooks, organization and hygiene.
 
This achievement deserves attention when the largest of the Antilles has just suffered the ravages of tropical storm Idalia, with havoc caused mainly in the western end of the archipelago.
 
There, efforts were made to ensure that the interruption of roads due to flooding and the initial power outage did not overshadow the efforts to have the capacity ready to teach classes.
 
The western province of Pinar del Río is still recovering from the damage caused by the powerful hurricane Ian in September 2022, whose winds damaged thousands of houses.
 
But the people of Pinar del Rio did not abandon their decision to open the school year in spite of everything, which was favored by families, companies, mass organizations and the State.
 
The normal opening of the instructive period was also helped by the search for teachers, whether retired teachers returning to work, recently graduated teachers or professionals from other sectors who, under contract, filled vacancies in regions with a shortage of teachers.
 
As is always the case in this Caribbean nation, the emphasis at the beginning of each school year is not only on optimizing the preparation of teachers, principals and auxiliary personnel.
 
Parents, guardians and grandparents are also urged to play their essential role in transmitting values to children and supervising their school performance.
 
The idea is not for the family to replace teachers and professors, but to complement their work.
 
For all these reasons, Cuban society welcomes the beginning of the school year as a reason for satisfaction.
 
Children and young people are safe in school and receive the knowledge and preparation they need to be good citizens.