Las Tunas began the 2026-2027 school year with over 800 vacant teaching positions and a coverage rate of between 90% and 92%, while authorities are turning to education students and workers from other sectors to maintain classes.
The greatest difficulties are concentrated in Basic Secondary Education, where the absence of a single teacher can leave an entire subject untaught, due to the variety of disciplines that require teachers with specialized training, emphasized the official newspaper 26 this Friday.
The municipalities of Jesús Menéndez, Puerto Padre, and Las Tunas are facing the most serious issues, while Amancio maintains a relatively more stable situation. Jobabo, Colombia, and Manatí also report shortages, although they manage to provide a certain continuity in educational services, she specified.
Magloiris Turruelles López, the director of Basic and Higher Secondary Education in the province, attributed the deficit to structural problems that have worsened over time, including the lack of young people interested in pursuing teaching careers and the departure of professionals to other sectors or abroad.
"When we are in a position to incorporate students who choose to enter the teaching profession, and that doesn't happen, along with the exodus—not just migratory, but also shifts 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 related to the objections from their own families. "Our young people do not choose these careers, and often their decision is influenced by family objections," she stated. The statements reflect the challenges of renewing the teaching staff while schools need to fill hundreds of vacant positions.
Given the impossibility of addressing the deficit immediately, the authorities are implementing emergency measures. Among these are salary incentives supported by Ministerial Resolution 10/2024, the "Educando por Amor" program, which integrates university students as teachers according to their specializations, the participation of workers from the Revolutionary Armed Forces in seventh and eighth grade subjects, and hourly contracts with professionals from Citma, Minint, and other entities.
Nearly 200 fourth-year students from the Rita Longa pedagogical school are already leading school groups and earning over 6,000 pesos a month before graduating. Although this option helps to address urgent needs, it also highlights the dependency of the educational system on staff who have yet to complete their training.
In some centers, these variants have allowed for the completion of faculty staff. Itavis Marrero Martínez, director of the ESBU Jesús Suárez Gayol, with an enrollment of 412 students, stated that the school has all its teachers thanks to these measures.
The issue in Las Tunas is part of a national crisis that has also not been resolved. Cuba began the 2026-2027 school year with nearly 24,000 vacant teaching positions, which is equivalent to 12.5% of the total planned, and more than 380,000 students without a primary teacher.
By mid-October, nationwide attendance 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 costing around 96,000 pesos.
The gap between income and the cost of living exacerbates the difficulties in keeping teachers in the classrooms, while temporary solutions do not ensure that all students receive the subjects they need.
Related videos:
Filed under: