Once this teaching calendar concludes, the educational centers of Ciego de Ávila will receive a new injection of teachers, with a view to the coming school year, when 299 students graduate from the pedagogical schools ―in what will be the highest graduation of these schools since their inception. opening―, to put into practice, in front of the classroom, what has been learned throughout these years of training.

From the Provincial Directorate of Education (DPE), Dr. C. Sulay Monzón García, head of the Department of Pedagogical Training, Improvement and Scientific Activity, told Invasor that this year the Rafael Morales Pedagogical School, in Morón, will graduate 143 students in the specialties of Early Childhood, Primary, Special, and will also do so in manifestations of the Arts, such as Plastic Arts and Music, for the Primary educational level; and Visual-Theatrical and Musical-Dance, for the Secondary School, these two for the first time.

At the same time, 156 young people in specialties such as Mathematics, Physics, History, Chemistry, Primary and Early Childhood are completing their studies at Raúl Corrales, in the main city.

The 115 students who close their training at the Armando Mestre Polytechnic Institute, as teachers for Professional Technical Education, in the Agricultural, Civil Construction, Electrical, Computer Science and Accounting specialties are added to them.

Monzón García explained that if today the pedagogical schools achieve a greater number of graduates, compared to previous years, it is due to a retention level that has been increasing, although it still does not reach the desired numbers. This indicator is key to ensure the permanence of those who enter and increase the chances that they complete their preparation as teachers.

Currently, the specialties of the Arts are the most affected, from this point of view, because "the boys enter thinking that the careers have another profile that does not coincide with the real one", she said, an issue that could well be resolved from a successful vocational training.

For the next school year, these institutions have planned an entry plan for 564 places, but, according to the directive, until the end of October there were 412 schoolchildren who opted for them as the first option, a figure that could still undergo variations before the current school term comes to an end.

Within the less favored specialties with admission are Primary and Special, while, of those designed for Basic Secondary Education, Mathematics continues to be below, and in the case of Arts, none managed to cover the predicted plan of places.

Although the deficit of teachers in Ciego de Ávila does not cause the same headaches as years ago, when the province appeared among those with the worst numbers in the country, the challenge continues to be in achieving permanence in the classrooms, both of those who are trained to teach, as well as those who already do.

As Sergio Molina González, head of the Human Resources Department of the DPE, recognized, this new generation of teachers represents an important contribution to Primary and Secondary Education, while helping to reduce the 940 needs that, at the end of last month, they did not allow covering the entire workforce.

This deficit has motivated the implementation of alternatives such as the hourly contract and the increase in the teaching load, which may also decrease. According to projections, the entry of new educators should leave the municipalities of Baraguá, Majagua, Chambas and Ciego de Ávila in better conditions to face the 2022-2023 teaching calendar, in terms of teaching coverage.