The Cuban regime is preparing a draft of a new Education Law with 243 articles that would replace Law 680, which has been in effect since 1959. However, the text arrives amid a historic educational crisis: nearly 24,000 vacant teaching positions, over 380,000 students without a primary teacher, and salaries that do not exceed 12 dollars per month.
The document, made available for public consultation on October 21 and scheduled for presentation to the National Assembly in December, was prepared with the participation of more than 25 organizations under the coordination of the Ministries of Education and Higher Education.
The most striking contradiction in the text appears between its first articles: Article 11 acknowledges students' right to "freely express their opinions" and participate in decisions that affect them, while Article 12 imposes on them the duty to "defend the principles of the Revolution, preserving national independence and security."
The draft does not clarify how a conflict between the two provisions would be resolved, nor what would happen to a student expressing political views contrary to socialism.
The ideological burden does not stop with the students. Article 14 requires both teaching and non-teaching staff to "defend the Socialist Homeland, the principles of the Revolution, and the values of Cuban society," to maintain a permanent political-ideological preparation, and to uphold ethical behavior on social media, without the text defining what that means in practice.
Article 6 establishes that education will promote values based on "Martian, Fidelist, Marxist, and Leninist" thought, and Article 50 subordinates certain university institutions to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
While the regime legislates on ideology in the classrooms, the reality for the 2026-2027 school year is quite different. When classes began on September 1, national teacher coverage barely reached 73%, with around 24,000 positions unfilled and more than 380,000 students without a permanent teacher, according to a report published by the state newspaper Granma.
Camagüey, Holguín, Matanzas, and Sancti Spíritus experienced the greatest shortages. To fill the gap, the Ministry of Education turned to university students in training, retired professionals returning to service, and experts from other sectors.
The structural cause of the teachers' exodus is the salary. Resolution 18/2026, effective from July 1, set the scale between 6,130 and 7,735 Cuban pesos per month, equivalent to less than 12 dollars at the informal exchange rate, compared to a basic basket estimated between 25,000 and 50,000 CUP.
The Minister of Education herself, Naima Trujillo Barreto, admitted to the EFE agency that "income is an important issue because it is sometimes true that we have mobility because salaries do not meet the needs of our professionals."
The blackouts worsen the situation. At the beginning of the school year, the Electric Union predicted a deficit of up to 2,310 MW during peak hours, with outages affecting 70% of the territory.
A primary school in Matanzas has gone without electricity for over 23 days during the initial weeks of the semester.
In the face of the collapse, the private sector had to supplement the State. Minister Trujillo acknowledged on October 18 that small and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes) and non-state companies provided food, footwear, clothing, and transportation routes for students, something that the minister herself described as a significant response.
The draft legislation reflects this reality indirectly: Article 239 authorizes educational organizations to generate supplementary income through foundations, interface companies, and small to medium enterprises, but it does not open the door to independent private schools.
The deputy minister Marlen Triana Mederos explained it this way to the newspaper Granma: "We remain budgeted, but we will be able to utilize complementary financing to continue supporting educational processes."
In mid-October, teacher coverage had risen to 86%, but 11,000 students continued to miss classes regularly and only 49% of the priority group had school uniforms.
UNESCO warned in May 2026 that Cuban education is "at risk," with over 2,000 schools needing urgent support and more than 400,000 students facing reduced hours.
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