• Submitted by: admin
• 07 / 13 / 2007

Ready to educate current and future generations for the major challenges awaiting Cuba and humanity, more than 23,000 graduates from Higher Educational Institutes devoted their graduation ceremony to the 40th anniversary of the death of guerrilla fighter Che Guevara.

At the ceremony held at the Kart Marx Theater in Havana, 2,339 students from two area pedagogical institutes received their diplomas. A total of 1,118 will be local Secondary School Generalist Teachers, out of 4,287 who are graduating across the country - which makes this the first mass graduation in this new specialty.

The commitment of the newly graduates to future generations and Cuba was expressed by David Toledo Fernandez, who was recognized at the best-performing student graduate.

With their diplomas, the new graduates received a present from President Fidel Castro: a book collecting all of his "Reflections", and a Family Library containing books such as a Cuban dictionary of the Spanish language and "The Diary of Che in Bolivia."

The dean of a Havana teacher training school, Maricela Rodriguez Penate, described the graduation as following the ideas of Jose Marti, Cubas national hero. "The new graduates have learned to teach using an open and creative dialogue " in addition to learning to become tutors, friends, teachers and social workers to their students and their families," she highlighted.

Luis Ignacio Gomez, Cubas minister of Education, said that the new teachers have already accumulated four years of experience due to the new training method which combines university studies with practice. In that sense, he pointed out the devotion of teachers and tutors from the institute, who turn ever school into a micro university.

The minister invited the new graduates to continue studying and urged them to enter the Masters program in Education this coming September.

Source: Juventud Rebelde