• Submitted by: admin
• Caribbean
• Destinations
• Education
• history
• national
• Politics and Government
• 01 / 30 / 2009

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They received their diplomas at a ceremony at the Mario Muñoz Monroy sugar mill in central Matanzas province, after much dedication and determination to conclude the demanding requirements of their graduation dissertation ahead of time.

Most of them received their certificates as Industrial or Agricultural and Livestock engineers, Accountants, Economists, Pedagogy graduates, or in specialties related to the tasks they perform.

Another 4,200 professionals also studying under the opportunities offered by the Álvaro Reynoso Task project, will conclude their studies in July, said the head of the Sugar Ministry's Employment Office, Felix Mora, during an interview with Granma newspaper.

Mora said the figure will increase when the almost 8,280 people now studying the fifth and sixth years of their respective careers end their courses.

He pointed out that all of them come from a wide reserve of 26,000 student-workers now incorporated to the local universities facilities located at the very same sugar mills.

After the restructuring of the sugar industry in 2002 and the dismounting of many sugar mills, some 60,000 men and women from this sector assumed study as employment, receiving their full wage, a modality that has gradually reduced and today represents only 8 percent of that figure (4,800). The rest have concluded their training period, have returned to their jobs or have taken on new responsibilities.

The decision to boost the study program was announced by Cuban leader Fidel Castro in a speech on October 21, 2002 at the village of the Eduardo García Lavandero sugar mill complex, during the official inauguration of the training courses.

Two of its main objectives were not to leave any worker unprotected, and to prepare a work force characterized by their experience, organization and discipline, capable of facing new tasks and taking on future commitments.

Fidel explained the reasons for the restructuring of the sugar industry and described as historical the putting into practice the concept of turning study into a form of employment.

Implementing this idea was more than a solution to a temporary problem, since it would benefit the country's agriculture with a staff that would add theoretical elements and novel techniques to accumulated experience.

The other great challenge was to organize classrooms and their needs and to create the staff of educators. A total of 5,713 professors -2,804 of which are permanent and the rest giving classes in between harvest periods- came from the ranks of the Sugar Ministry, with the valuable help of the Ministry of Higher Education.

The Alvaro Reynoso Task creates conditions for the sector to have, in a reasonably short period of time, the professionals it needs for the producing and processing of sugar, derivatives, and diversification in general, explained Felix Mora, who also heads the sugar producing courses.

Joining the full time university students are more than 35,500 workers -a good amount of them from the agricultural sector- who are studying at production units in different levels of non-professional careers. This, in a short or medium term, nurtures collective development and efficiency.

During the peak of the Álvaro Reynoso Task project, there were more than 100,000 workers in classrooms.
    
(RHC)