The reports submitted by UN agencies usually headlines the mainstream media and the data that highlight these agencies in their press presentations are often featured, in turn, by such means (1); but sometimes… not happen in that way.
In early April, UNESCO presented its “Monitoring Report Education for All Global 2015″: a 15 years later balance about the achievements of 164 states related to 6 major goals set at the World Education Forum Dakar in 2000 (2).
One of the data that UNESCO data highlighted in this report is that in Latin America and the Caribbean, only one country has completed 100% of these objectives: Cuba (3).
Do you understand now why the mainstream press has not been interested in the UNESCO report cited?
The report places Cuba in 28th place globally, on par with Switzerland, United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, and Finland. Emphasizes, for example, indicators of gender equality in the entire education system of Cuba, near full parity; and about the quality of education on the island, closely related, for example, by the ratio of pupils and students per teacher. Faced with the global average of 40, Cuba has a ratio of 10 students per teacher (4).
That the Cuban educational system remains internationally praised can be curious when the institutions of the island are concerned about some recent setbacks (5). Far from receiving the recognition of UNESCO with triumphalism, Education Minister Ana Elsa Velasquez said that the Cuban government is “dissatisfied” and that “Cuba has many challenges” to overcome, especially in teacher training, infrastructure and the computerization of the education system (6).
About UNESCO praises of Cuba -as was to be expected- we have not read a word in major international newspapers. The Spanish newspaper “El Pais”, although had signed an agreement with UNESCO just two months ago (7); although had published in recent months several articles about the state of education in the world (8) -in which Cuba is not mentioned- had totally ignored the “Monitoring Report on Education for All” of the UNESCO.
An organization much more related to the ideological values of the big media companies, the World Bank, acknowledged last year that Cuba is the country that invests the most in education (9). The Island, with 12.9% of GDP invested in education, beats countries like Denmark, with 8.7 %, UK 6.2% or US with 5.4% (10).
In a previous report, entitled “excellent teachers. How to improve learning in Latin America and the Caribbean” (11), the World Bank also praised Cuba for having the best education system in Latin America and the Caribbean (12).
But the ideological authority of the World Bank has not served in this case, to interest big newspapers for their data on the successes of the educational system in Cuba .
(1) http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/10/28/planeta_futuro/1414492780_152446.html
(2) http://es.unesco.org/gem-report/report/2015/la-educaci%C3%B3n-para-todos-2000-2015-logros-y-desaf%C3%ADos#sthash.HDsRruov.dpbs
(3) http://www.unesco.org/new/es/media-services/single-view/news/education_for_all_2000_2015_only_cuba_reached_global_education_goals_in_latin_america_and_the_caribbean/#.VTYjlfBGQ3g
(4) http://noticias.universia.cl/educacion/noticia/2015/04/13/1123090/cuba-unico-pais-logro-cumplir-100-objetivos-ept-mundo-unesco.html
(5) http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/blogs/2014/10/141016_voces_desde_cuba_yuris_norido_maestros_educacion
(6) http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2015-04-10/destaca-la-unesco-resultados-de-cuba-en-materia-de-educacion
(7) http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2015/02/02/actualidad/1422911947_172741.html
(8) http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/09/03/planeta_futuro/1409736940_718200.html
(9) http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS
(10) http://espanol.almayadeen.net/Study/2Kml_ddYWEeKIKRbARNhBA/seg%C3%BAn-el-banco-mundial-cuba-es-el-pa%C3%ADs-del-mundo-que-inviert
(11) http://www.bancomundial.org/content/dam/Worldbank/Highlights%20&%20Features/lac/LC5/Spanish-excellent-teachers-report.pdf
(12) http://www.kienyke.com/noticias/banco-mundial-cuba-tiene-el-mejor-sistema-educativo-de-america-latina/
(José Manzaneda, Cubainformacion´s coordinator)