Buying a backpack, a lunchbox, a pair of shoes, and some basic school supplies can cost in Cuba 34,600 pesos, equivalent to almost 11 minimum salaries, as shown by a Cuban youth while visiting several stores in light of the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
Emanuel González Moral documented in a video published on Facebook how much a family needed to minimally equip a student, searching for the cheapest available option in each case.
The bill included a backpack, a lunchbox, shoes, colored pencils, glue, erasers, and a mechanical pencil.
"With those very basic items that you can easily buy in any country, the total came to 34,600 pesos," he explained.
The cheapest backpack she found cost 8,000 pesos, although there were others starting at 18,000. On top of that, there were 10,000 pesos for a lunchbox and 14,000 for a pair of shoes.
The colors ranged from 1,500 to 1,800 pesos; the solid glue was 650; the erasers were 200; and the mechanical pencil was 250 pesos.
The comparison with the income of Cuban workers highlights the issue.
“Keep in mind that the current minimum wage is only 3,210 pesos. This amount is equivalent to nearly 11 months of minimum wage,” noted González Moral.
In other words, a worker earning the minimum wage would need to allocate almost 11 months of income entirely to purchase just those items, without spending a penny on food, transportation, electricity, or other necessities.
And the list, the young man warned, doesn't even cover everything a student might need to start classes.
His own situation reflects the difficulties in replacing these products. González Moral shared that he has been using the same backpack for over five school years and the same shoes for more than four years due to the high prices.
"After doing this calculation, I think you now understand a little better why I still use all of this. And this isn't even everything. There are still so many things left out," he expressed.
The video provoked numerous reactions from Cubans inside and outside the island. Some pointed out that prices can vary significantly depending on the location. One user stated, for example, that in their area they found erasers for 70 pesos, mechanical pencils for 120, and backpacks starting at 6,000 pesos.
Users from other Latin American countries also reacted, surprised by the relationship between the prices shown and the earnings of Cubans.
González Moral's study quantifies one of the problems families face with each return to school: salaries that have lost much of their purchasing power in relation to the cost of basic products that parents need to send their children to school.
Amid the prolonged economic crisis and the inflation affecting the island, preparing a student to start the school year can become an expense that is impossible to bear with just a state salary.
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