U.S. Oil Blockade Impacts Cuban School Year

The U.S. oil blockade has caused significant challenges for Cuba’s education system. Due to a severe fuel shortage, many schools ended their academic year early. This blockade has led to a major energy crisis in Cuba, disrupting transportation and educational activities.

Analeidis Arias Matos, a resident of Santiago, Cuba, faces difficulties in preparing her son, Alejandro, for school. In western Cuba, siblings Axisa and Aron Alfonso, aged 6 and 7, experience similar hardships. Their father uses a horse to transport them to school, a journey of one mile. Many other students and teachers depend on an old yellow Soviet-era bus, which frequently fails to operate. As a result, the Alfonso family, along with their horse, Chocolate, often return home when classes are canceled due to absent teachers.

Sergio Alfonso Vásquez, the father of Axisa and Aron, voiced his concerns about his children’s education. “My children rarely go to school. They go, but the teachers don’t come,” said Vásquez, a farmer, age 33. He worries about their lack of learning.

To conserve energy, the Cuban government reduced school days to half, starting in February. Additionally, college students resorted to remote learning methods reminiscent of Covid times. Eventually, officials ended the school year two weeks early and canceled college entrance exams for high school seniors. The decision came after acknowledging that continuous power outages and an absence of school meals left students and teachers fatigued.