Move Back
![Cuba_Education_Garc_1_]()
In this Feb. 5, 2016 photo, teacher Graciela Lage gives an English lesson at the Cuban School of Foreign Languages in Havana, Cuba. The kids in Lage's class wear sweat shirts and jeans, not the neat maroon uniforms of Cuba's public schools. Their classroom has an air conditioner and a computer with speakers for watching videos, unimaginable in a state school. Cuba's blooming entrepreneurial system has quietly created something that looks much like a private education sector, with thousands of students across Cuba enrolled in dozens of afterschool and weekend foreign language and art schools. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)![Cuba_Education_Garc_6_]()
In this Feb. 13, 2016, parents wait for their children to finish their dance lessons at the private art workshop Entreartes, in Havana, Cuba. âIn our workshops, we realize that 95 percent of families come here with the idea that artists are famous, artists travel outside the country,â said director Angel Escobedo. âThey want to prepare themselves for the art schools with the objective of being famous, traveling,â he said. âWeâre the specialists in preparing themselves for the entrance exams.â (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)![Cuba_Education_Garc_3_]()
In this Feb. 5, 2016 photo, parents mingle as they wait for their children to be let out of an English lesson at the Cuban School of Foreign Languages, in Havana, Cuba. Despite ideological and legal hurdles, Cubaâs blooming entrepreneurial system has quietly created something that looks very much like a private education sector over the last half-decade, with thousands of students across Cuba enrolled in dozens of afterschool and weekend foreign language and art schools. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)![Cuba_Education_Garc]()
In this Feb. 5, 2016 photo, students attend an English class at the Cuban School of Foreign Languages, in Havana, Cuba. Despite ideological and legal hurdles, Cubaâs blooming entrepreneurial system has quietly created something that looks very much like a private education sector over the last half-decade, with thousands of students across Cuba enrolled in dozens of afterschool and weekend foreign language and art schools. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)![Cuba_Education_Garc_4_]()
In this Feb. 13, 2016 photo, dance instructor Ailedys Merino, 28, leads a group of dancers at the private art workshop Entreartes, in Havana, Cuba. Cubaâs blooming entrepreneurial system has quietly created something that looks much like a private education sector, with thousands of students across Cuba enrolled in dozens of afterschool and weekend foreign language and art schools. For upper- and middle-class parents, the schools are filling gaps in subjects such as English, dance, painting, music and theatre, invaluable in a country where artists and tourism industry workers can feed their families far more easily than the average state employee. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)![Cuba_Education_Garc_2_]()
In this Feb. 13, 2016, children practice their steps during dance lessons at the private art workshop Entreartes, in Havana, Cuba. Private education has also transformed arts education in Cuba. The countryâs elite government arts schools have three sets of competitive entrance exams: for elementary school, high-school and the prestigious Superior Institute of Arts university. Cuba prides itself on its achievements in the arts and musicians, dancers, actors and fine artists have long been allowed to perform and sell their works outside the country. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)![Cuba_Education_Garc_5_]()
In this Feb. 13, 2016 photo, a student shares her dance technique during a dance class at the private art workshop Entreartes, in Havana, Cuba. Parents spend about 250 Cuban pesos ($10) a month, around half the average state workerâs salary, to give their children early advantages in English and the arts. Math and science are also taught privately, in less formal settings that more closely resemble group private tutoring. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)Cuban entrepreneurs build network of private schools
Cuba touts its free, public kindergarten-to-post-grad schools as one of the jewels of its revolution, a force for social equality that virtually wiped out illiteracy across the island and gave even the poorest citizens a shot at educations often superior to wealthier countries'.
Move Forward
- Cuban entrepreneurs build network of private schools
