Austin Llerandi, a graduate in Pedagogical Sciences from the Enrique José Varona Higher Pedagogical Institute in Ciudad Libertad, published a video this Saturday documenting the neglect of the surroundings of his former institution and denouncing that he is currently unable to work as a Spanish and Literature teacher due to a post on social media.
The video, recorded from the outskirts of the Pedagógico de Ciudad Libertad, in the Marianao municipality of the capital, shows accumulated garbage and the fallen perimeter fence.
"The place is a dump. But it’s not surprising, because the Cuban educational system is one as well," Llerandi states in the recording.
Llerandi explained that he graduated five years ago with a thesis on literature and video games, a topic that was unprecedented at the university at that time.
He recounted that the opposing professor of his thesis, identified as Gerardo García Barceló, awarded him three points as retaliation for not understanding the topic.
But the hardest blow came after his graduation. In June 2022, Llerandi posted a photo of his university degree on Facebook inside a pot with white rice, denouncing that it was all he had to eat.
"No hardworking Cuban, like me, should have to beg for food or anything else," he wrote then.
In that viral post, Llerandi also listed the prices in the informal market: 10 pounds of chicken for 1,200 Cuban pesos (CUP), a carton of eggs for 1,000 CUP, and a pound of rice for 50 CUP.
According to what he states in the recent video, that complaint cost him the opportunity to practice his teaching profession.
"Five years ago, I graduated from this Pedagogical Institute, and today I cannot offer my profession as a teacher of Spanish and Literature through a video, a post I uploaded to Facebook where I used my legitimate right to express myself by placing my diploma in a pot full of rice," he emphasized.
Beyond her personal case, Llerandi points to a structural failure of the system, stating that "Cuban education is a disaster. It is completely focused on achieving statistics and neglects overall quality."
Llerandi closed his video with a phrase that summarizes the state of the system: "Every place has the ending it deserves."
The testimony is set against the backdrop of an educational crisis that has deepened in recent years. Cuba began the 2024-2025 school year with a deficit of 24,000 teachers, amounting to 12.5% of the available positions.
The salaries of teachers in Cuba range from 4,000 to 9,400 CUP per month, between eight and 20 dollars, against a cost of living that exceeds 40,000 CUP.
Reprisals against critical teachers are not an isolated case either. The professor Abel Tablada was expelled in March from the José Antonio Echeverría Technological University of Havana for posting criticisms on Facebook.
Additionally, Roberto Viña Martínez was dismissed in January from the Higher Institute of Art due to similar opinions expressed on social media, resulting in a loss of more than 70% of his income.
In April, the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel defended the "free" education in Cuba in light of the exodus of professionals, a statement that sparked widespread backlash.
A Cuban responded to Díaz-Canel about free education with a direct question: "What free education are you talking about, if everything is paid for through taxes?".
Filed under: