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Text: Fede Gayardo
A new agreement was signed between the Ministries of Education of Cuba and Russia to strengthen ties between both teaching systems which, among other actions, includes sending Russian language teachers to the island.
Russian news media indicated that the Deputy Minister of Education of that country, Denis Gribov, and the First Deputy Minister of Education of Cuba, Cira Piñeiro Alonso, held a meeting where they debated cooperation between both governments in the education sector.
Among the topics discussed was the implementation of the international humanitarian project “Russian Teacher Abroad”, which will allow, for the first time in decades, teachers of that language to move to the island.
According to the Russian vice minister of the field, there will be interaction with the Cuban Ministry of Education in several areas. “On the sidelines of the forum in Kazan, an agreement was signed for the development of the ‘Russian Professor Abroad’ project, within the framework of which the sending of two Russian professors to Cuba for the first time this academic year is planned. Previously, we also agreed to create an interdepartmental working group on cooperation,” Gribov said.
In addition, the director pointed out the importance of implementing programs for the exchange of experiences between Russian and Cuban teachers and the prospects for cooperation in the field of secondary vocational education.
On the other hand, a call was made to Cuban teachers to “study modern Russian methods of teaching and training qualified personnel” and foreign students in that country were encouraged to participate in the events of the All-Russian Professional Skills Championship Movement .
The possible organization of recreational trips for children from Cuba to Russian federal children’s centers was also mentioned as other possible alliances between the government of Moscow and Havana.
In the middle of last year it was learned that the Cuban Educational Channel would begin to broadcast basic level Russian classes, as part of the representation maintained at the University of Havana by the State Institute of the Russian Language.
Likewise, the possible opening of a branch in Havana of the Federal University of the South, a Russian public institution of higher education, was mentioned, as well as the expansion of the number of scholarships offered annually to Cubans by the Russian Ministry of Higher Education and Science. .
