Havana, Sep 3 (RHC) -- President Miguel Diaz-Canel attended Monday in Havana the inauguration of the new school year in Cuba. Monday September 3rd marked the beginning of the 2018-2019 school course island-wide. More than 10,000 educational centers open their doors to over two million students.

The inaugural ceremony this year took place at the Rafael María de Mendive Elementary School in Old Havana, where Cuban National Hero José Martí went to school 150 years ago.

Also on attendance at the function was Vice President Roberto Morales Ojeda; Minister of Education Ena Elsa Velázquez; Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal; and the Vietnamese ambassador to Cuba, Nguyen Trung Thanh. Other guests included Communist Party First Secretary in Havana, Luis Antonio Torres Iriber, and Provincial Assembly President Reynaldo García Zapata.

The Office of the Havana City Historian was commended for its work of general remodeling of the school, whose colonial structure and nineteenth century furniture were preserved and renovated.