‘It’s terrible what we go through for children to learn something and meet what school demands,’ says a Cuban mother.
By Yoan Miguel González Piedra (Diario de Cuba)
HAVANA TIMES – One of the multiple aspects of the crisis that Cuba is suffering, sometimes overlooked among so many, is the impact it has on school attendance. There is much talk of consequences like the stampede of workers from the state to the private sector, of migration, of the hardships spawned by inflation, the problems with the distribution of milk and bread… but not the collateral effect of people who no longer send their children to school. This is, in addition to a consequence, a subtle form of citizen protest.
“If the bread doesn’t arrive the day before, I don’t send my child to school. If I don’t have money to buy him even a powdered drink, I don’t send him either,” says Yamilé, a mother and Holguin resident.
“And if they cut the power before I can make breakfast, forget about it. Imagine: it’s rare if some of these things, or all of them, don’t happen two or three times a week. So, he doesn’t go much. And I dare them to tell me something, because I’m so mad that if they pricked me instead of blood they’d find venom. There is no one who can put up with this. We’ve reached the limit,” she vents.
Indira, another mother with school-age children, says that it’s “terrible what families must go through for kids to learn something and to meet the demands of school.”
“They ask for everything, because they don’t even have light bulbs. And you also have to pack a snack for