A Cuban mother whose only child suffers from acute lymphoblastic leukemia wrote a message addressed to the Minister of Education, Ana Elsa Velázquez Cobiella, in which she states that she will not send the child to school to avoid possible coronavirus infection.
Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia, who defines himself as anti-communist, criticized the decision of the Cuban government to start the school year in September, amid the increase in COVID-19 cases registered in recent weeks.
“I'm not going to send him to school because I'm not going to expose him for anyone's bad decision. “I consider that the decision to restart the school year is totally crazy and again bad behavior taken by the leaders,” he added.
“First they closed the course and we didn't have even half of the cases we have today. Second, where are you going to get the robots that will guarantee the cleaning of chairs, tables and so on every three hours, if parents are already being told at parent meetings that each child must guarantee their gel and chlorine to disinfect your hands,” he questioned.
The Cuban government ratified that The school year will begin on September 1st throughout the country, with the exception of those places where coronavirus outbreaks have been detected. These are: the municipalities of La Palma, in Pinar del Río; Mariel and San Cristóbal, in Artemisa; Camajuaní and the Mataguá popular council, in Villa Clara; Cárdenas, in Matanzas, and the entire province of Havana.
Salcedo Verdecia resides in the Artemis municipality of Alquízar, so his son would have to join the educational process.
“Here where I live they never fulfilled the chlorine sales they promised. "What guarantees me that the teachers, assistants and students in general are healthy and will maintain the required social distancing, as well as the nasabuco on at all times?" the woman questioned.
“You may not know because from your position I doubt you have the knowledge, but I will tell you from mine, which I assure you is very different from yours. These same students do not have snacks in their study centers since you cannot guarantee them, that is not new, but the difference is that they will not be able to sell snacks in schools either. But what is even sadder: many parents are not working and do not have the conditions to guarantee one or two snacks for their children,” he denounced.
The woman, who is also an activist of the opposition movement on the Island, recalled that in Havana the authorities determined the move to phase one and could not control the situation, which is why they are now going through a very difficult situation.
“They are calling those who have a party of more than 10 people irresponsible, but nevertheless in Cuban classrooms there are always more than 25 students. In closing, I will tell you that my decision has been made. My son is not going! But I am speaking for all those mothers who today do not have the courage to raise their voices,” he concluded.
Salcedo Verdecia's concern is shared by many mothers in Cuba, to the point that a debate arose on social networks. campaign named Empty classrooms, to demand from the government that the school year does not start next September 1st.
Yorsikelín Sánchez, national president of the Women for Freedom Feminist Front and independent trade unionist in Sancti Spíritus, explained to Martí News that there is a fear that the opening of schools will cause an increase in coronavirus infections.
“Many mothers do not agree with the school year starting in the classrooms in September because we fear that the current outbreak will contaminate our children, and for that reason we decided to express it through videos,” she explained.
“Another reason why classrooms should not be opened is due to the poor condition of the schools and the lack of supplies for cleaning the premises,” he added.
According to the head of Education, 11 percent of the schools in the country are in poor condition and the government does not have the resources to repair them.
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