Just days before the start of the 2026-2027 school year, textile workshops in the province of Camagüey are producing school uniforms at a pace dictated by power outages: when there is electricity, the machines operate; when not, the seamstresses take the work home.
In the garment workshop of the municipality of Guaymaro, a worker bluntly summarized the situation: "Whenever there is power, we come in to work. The other option is that our seamstresses take small jobs home to get ahead."
At the time of the report, that workshop was producing 2,662 units of primary shirts and had already delivered 1,502 to central warehouses and stores.
During the first half of the year, the same workshop completed nearly 5,000 primary school dresses, all with worn-out equipment that the team keeps operational through sheer effort.
"We have a commitment to the country and to the people, those children who are starting school right now and for whom we have not been able to deliver their uniforms on time and in the proper manner. We do our part, and we are here, but it's not enough for us to work three or four hours to meet consumer demand," acknowledged one of the workers at the Guaymaro workshop.
In the municipality of Sibanicú, another workshop operates on Saturdays, Sundays, and extra hours to make up for the accumulated delays. "We are working on the production of uniforms for 2026-2027, which includes those for polytechnic, secondary, and pre-university levels. While we are over there working, we work on Saturdays, Sundays, and extra hours," explained a worker from that collective.
Due to the inability of the state industry to meet demand on its own, the provincial government directed efforts to establish linkages with the private sector.
A businesswoman from Camagüey answered the call and organizes her workday in two shifts: "In the mornings, we fulfill our demand, and in the afternoons we collaborate with the state orders," producing shirts, skirts, and elementary shorts for the government.
The task is monumental: production must meet the enrollment of over 700 educational institutions in the province. And the national picture is even more bleak.
The demand for uniforms is around 3.6 million pieces, but production has only reached between 2.2 and 2.3 million, which means that only 20% of the national enrollment will receive new uniforms at the start of the school year.
The Ministry of Education announced that no child will be excluded from classes for not having a uniform and that clothing requirements will be relaxed, a measure that reflects the extent of the deficit.
The 2026-2027 school year begins on September 1 under conditions that the authorities themselves describe as "exceptional," with fewer class hours and adjustments to local attendance requirements.
Camagüey is also facing a deficit of nearly 3,000 teachers to serve more than 95,000 students across 690 schools, and last July, teachers in the province reported going two months without receiving their salaries.
The electrical crisis that affects every seam in Camagüey's workshops is the same one that, in August 2026, left between 65% and 68% of the country without electricity during peak demand hours, according to data from Infobae, turning the making of a simple school uniform into a race against blackouts.
Related videos:
Filed under: