A viral video on social media shows a heated exchange between a teacher and several students who are denouncing the extreme conditions many young people face in order to attend school each day.
In the images, shared by journalist Mario J. Pentón, the teacher questions the students' absenteeism and warns that she will call the parents to address the academic situation.
However, one of the students responds that many families live in conditions similar to or even worse than those of the students themselves.
The most tense moment of the exchange occurs when another young woman explains the difficulties some students are facing.
"You don't know what it's like to spend an entire night without having anything to eat and getting up at five in the morning to not eat anything either and come to school," she states through tears.
The student also mentions the long distances and physical exhaustion that some classmates face in order to attend classes, in a context where public transportation is unreliable and many families live in conditions of extreme precariousness.
In response to the complaints, the teacher tries to calm the situation and points out that the only thing she can do is allow the students to arrive later to school, though she insists that absences will continue to be recorded.
The video, which does not specify in which educational institution in the country it was recorded, is circulating at a time of growing tension within the Cuban educational system, which is struggling with the economic crisis, resource shortages, and frequent blackouts that affect the functioning of schools and universities across the country.
That discomfort has also been recently expressed in student protests. On March 9, about thirty young people held a sit-in on the steps of the University of Havana to denounce the difficulties of studying amid power outages and lack of connectivity.
During that peaceful protest, the students demanded that power outages and internet issues hinder the completion of academic assignments and teaching activities.
University authorities went to the site to persuade the young people to leave the demonstration and move the dialogue to another space on campus.
The crisis has also affected other educational institutions. In February, students from the Higher Institute of Art held a silent protest following the indefinite suspension of face-to-face classes due to the energy emergency the country is experiencing.
These episodes reflect the growing discontent of a generation that is trying to continue their studies amid prolonged blackouts, economic hardships, and an increasingly visible deterioration of living conditions on the island.
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