Many teenagers choose to work after spending only one year in Military Service
14ymedio, Havana, August 8, 2024 — “In hard times, the croquette is put before the brain.” The diagnosis, coined by a university professor from Las Tunas, synthesizes the problem of entry into higher education on the Island, which is most critical in that eastern province. At the provincial university, for example, of the 7,000 students whose enrollment was planned for next year, only 6,320 were registered, and more losses are expected.
“Our team spoke with young people who revealed (with the recorder turned off and demanding discretion) that they would choose any degree program to spend just one year in Military Service, even though they do not plan to study it,” admits Periódico 26 in a report published this Thursday. Where are they going? The local newspaper of the Communist Party responds with a euphemism: “Their life projects are in other latitudes.” Meanwhile, they focus on “making money” in the private sector for their trip.
The future doesn’t look good for Cuban universities. The problem – according to the newspaper – is that it is no longer profitable to “burn the midnight oil” because a degree demands an excessive expenditure of money (travel, food, clothes), and a recent graduate’s salary is ridiculous, taking into account the cost of living in Cuba. “It’s better to sell on Revolico,” the buying and selling website, confesses one of the interviewees.
Among the pre-university students of Las Tunas, about 800 students took the entrance exams
Among the pre-university students of Las Tunas, about 800 students took the entrance exams, a figure slightly lower than that of 2023, but catastrophic compared to 2022 – when it was 1,000 – and even more of a catastrophe if compared with 2021, when more than 2,000 presented themselves. This year, only 72% passed Mathematics and 27% History. The best result was for Spanish, with 99% approved.
But that doesn’t guarantee anything. The “curve” in which almost all approved students are “lost” is when it comes to choosing their career. According to the professors of the University of Las Tunas, it is very difficult to convin