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Why is Cuba heading towards a top place in education worldwide? It is no
longer possible to compare it with the countries of Latin America and the
rest of the Third World.

Let us take a look at a few figures from various sources on the state of
education in the developed countries, and compare them with the figures
from our own country.

Primary school enrollment rate:

Cuba 100; Spain 100; France 100; the Netherlands 100; Italy 100; Japan
100; Norway 100; Portugal 100; Sweden 100; Denmark 100; United Kingdom 99;
Finland 98; Canada 95; United States 95; Ireland 92; and Germany 86.
Sources: UNESCO and Euridice.

Percentage of students who reach fifth grade:

Cuba 100; Germany 100; Denmark 100; Finland 100; Japan 100; Norway 100;
Canada 99; United States 99; France 99; Italy 99; Spain 98; Sweden 98;
Ireland 97; and Portugal 97. Sources: UNICEF and UNESCO.

Educational achievement in mathematics:

Third grade: Cuba 78.2; Canada 54.4; England 40.2; Iceland 34.1; Ireland
53.7; Japan 77.4; Norway 31.6; Portugal 45.4; Scotland 44; United States
54.6; and the Netherlands 59.6.

Fourth grade: Cuba 81.6; Canada 70.4; England 53.2; Iceland 56.9; Ireland
71.3; Japan 86.7; Norway 63.7; Portugal 60.7; Scotland 62.4; United States
70.3; and the Netherlands 83.4.

In third grade, we are rated above them all. In fourth grade, we are
surpassed only by Japan and the Netherlands. Sources: OECD and UNESCO.

Existence of educational channels:

Canada yes; Japan yes; Denmark no; Spain no; United States no; Finland no;
France no; Ireland no; Norway no; the Netherlands no; Portugal no; United
Kingdom no; Sweden no. Source: Public information.

Cuba has something more than an educational channel. Every day, the two
national channels broadcast 10 and 12 hours of educational materials, in
addition to the educational channel presently in full development. This
currently covers the capital of the Republic and a large part of the
provinces of Havana and Santiago de Cuba, and before the end of the
current school year, it will extend to all of the provincial capitals and
major cities, as well as a large part of the rural communities. It will
also provide many more hours of educational broadcasting as part of a
system organically linked to all levels and types of education in the
country. No other country in the world is doing anything like it. Source:
Public information.

Existence of TV sets in every classroom

Cuba, yes; Germany, no; Canada, no; Denmark, no; Spain, no; United States,
no; Finland, no; France, no; Ireland, no; Italy, no; Japan, no; Norway,
no; the Netherlands, no; Portugal, no; the United Kingdom, no; and,
Sweden, no.

It is the privilege of an educational method that only exists in our
country. Source: Public Information.

Ratio of teachers per number of inhabitants

Cuba one per 42.23; Denmark one per 53.6; Portugal one per 54.7; Sweden
one per 55.4; France one per 62.7; Ireland one per 64.6; Canada one per
66; United States one per 67.7; Spain one per 68.5; the Netherlands one
per 69.6; Japan one per 77.8; Germany one per 78.7; Finland one per 79.2;
Italy one per 83.5; and the United Kingdom one per 83.95. Source: UNESCO.

Maximum number of students per classroom in primary school: Cuba 20;
Canada 25; Spain 25; Norway 25; United Kingdom 25; Denmark 28; Germany 30;
United States 30; Finland 30; France 30; Japan 30; and Portugal 30.

In the cases of Germany and the United States, there is not a single
figure for the whole country; it varies from state to state. Source:
Public information.

As can be seen, we are already far above the most developed countries in
most of the main educational indicators. Almost without noticing, we are
leading the way. They do not have the slightest possibility of surpassing
us within their capitalist social and economic models. As our current
projects continue to mature and we gradually overcome the deficiencies and
difficulties we face, we will even further increase our advantage.

These educational indicators will be accompanied by the efforts of tens of
thousands of art instructors who are already in training, the explosion
that will take place in the arts in general and in other intellectual
fields, and the rapid advances of our people towards an ever-higher degree
of comprehensive general culture.

These are not simply dreams or fantasies; the realities are already
becoming visible. And it is well worth fighting for them!
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