Las Tunas began the 2026-2027 school year with over 800 vacant teaching positions and coverage between 90% and 92%, while authorities are turning to education students and workers from other sectors to keep classes ongoing.
The greatest difficulties are concentrated in Basic Secondary Education, where the absence of just one teacher can leave an entire subject without instruction, due to the variety of subjects that require teachers with specific training, emphasized the official newspaper 26 this Friday.
The municipalities of Jesús Menéndez, Puerto Padre, and Las Tunas are experiencing the most severe problems, while Amancio maintains a relatively more stable situation. Jobabo, Colombia, and Manatí also report shortages, although they manage to maintain some continuity in educational services, he specified.
Magloiris Turruelles López, director of Basic and Upper Secondary Education in the province, attributed the deficit to structural issues that have worsened over time, including the lack of young people interested in pursuing educational careers and the departure of professionals to other sectors or abroad.
"When we are in a position to welcome students who choose to enter the teaching profession, and that doesn't happen, coupled with the exodus—not only migratory but also to other sectors... what do we have? A significant gap," he acknowledged.
The official also acknowledged that the lack of candidates for teaching positions is sometimes linked to the opposition from their own families. "Our young people do not choose these careers, and often their families play a role in their decision by saying no," she stated. The remarks highlight the challenges of renewing the teaching staff while schools need to fill hundreds of vacant positions.
In light of the impossibility of resolving the deficit immediately, the authorities are implementing emergency measures. Among them are salary incentives supported by Ministerial Resolution 10/2024, the Educating for Love program, which incorporates university students as teachers based on their specialties, the involvement of workers from the Revolutionary Armed Forces in seventh and eighth-grade subjects, and hourly contracts with professionals from Citma, Minint, and other entities.
Around 200 fourth-year students from the Rita Longa pedagogical school are already leading school groups and earning more than 6,000 pesos a month before graduating. While this alternative helps to meet urgent needs, it also highlights the educational system's dependence on staff who have not yet completed their training.
In some centers, these variants have allowed for the completion of faculty staff. Itavis Marrero Martínez, director of ESBU Jesús Suárez Gayol, which has an enrollment of 412 students, stated that the school has all its teachers thanks to these measures.
The problem in Las Tunas is part of a national crisis that has not been resolved. Cuba started the 2026-2027 school year with nearly 24,000 vacant teaching positions, equivalent to 12.5% of the total expected, and over 380,000 students without a lead teacher.
By mid-October, national coverage had risen to 86%, but 11,000 students were still not attending classes regularly, according to the Minister of Education, Naima Ariatne Trujillo Barreto. Camagüey began the school year with nearly 3,000 unfilled positions and Holguín with over 2,000.
Economic conditions are putting pressure on a system that needs to retain its professionals. The salary scale established by Resolution 18/2026 sets monthly salaries for teachers between 6,130 and 7,735 Cuban pesos, compared to an estimated basic basket of around 96,000 pesos.
The gap between income and the cost of living exacerbates the challenges of keeping teachers in classrooms, while provisional solutions do not ensure that all students receive the subjects they need.
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