A Cuban mother posted on Facebook a photo of the Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda primary school, located in Marianao, Havana, which presents a starkly different picture from what the regime promised for the start of the school year: a vacant lot covered in rubble and accumulated garbage, wild vegetation growing among the waste, a broken retaining wall, and an electrical pole at risk of toppling over.
The author of the publication, Zea Gisselle, identified the school as her son's, located in what she described as "a marginalized neighborhood."
Her complaint came directly in response to the official statements: "Canel and the Presidency of Cuba say that this school year will be a celebration. Oh, really...," she wrote.
Zea also warned about the quality of the textbooks, printed in Mexico due to the inability of the Cuban graphic industry: "We'll talk later about the horror of the editorial mistakes in the textbooks of the New School Improvement when they are delivered. I mean, if there are books, if there are notebooks."
The contrast is hard to ignore. The Minister of Education, Naima Ariatne Trujillo Barreto, stated days ago in Guantánamo that "September will again be a celebration", while Díaz-Canel took the opportunity at the beginning of the new school year to deny that Cuba is in "collapse".
The leader of the Communist Party, Roberto Morales Ojeda, also joined in on the optimistic discourse, although a resident from Matanzas contradicted him in the comments: "One must be a doctor in cynicism to talk about a school celebration. Today, Morales Ojeda spoke about this in a publication and showcased a classroom that I assume he must have created with AI, or it is from a model school to present. In Matanzas, no classroom looks like that."
The post gathered reactions from citizens who described similar situations in other schools. A mother pointed out that the Antonio Maceo school, on 102nd Street, "is in very poor condition, with a mountain of trash on the corner."
Mothers and grandmothers whose children study at the Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda school expressed concern about its condition.
"It's ridiculous to start the school year with the schools in such conditions; that's communism," stated a stylist.
"What a lack of everything, and then with their special faces they get up to talk nonsense and meaningless things to justify the unjustifiable. What a disgusting government, that's why I say these kids don't owe the revolution any gratitude whatsoever," said another internet user.
Another comment summed up the general sentiment: "Everything is destroyed. A country in ruins for those of us who are hostages of the elite."
On August 21, just days before the start of the school year, a large dump was reported next to a primary school in Holguín, with debris piled up just a few meters from the school building.
The new school year begins on September 1 amidst a general structural crisis: a deficit of at least 24,000 teachers, uniform production that covers barely 20% of the student population, and blackouts exceeding 20 hours a day.
According to the World Food Programme, 48.5% of Cuban children aged six to eleven do not receive food or snacks at school.
The previous school year had to close weeks before the scheduled date in the official calendar, between June 15 and June 30, due to the energy crisis.
While the regime prepares what it calls a "celebration," Cuban mothers have announced that they will not send their children unless there is electricity, drinking water, lunch, and minimal conditions for rest.
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