-DATE-
19750901
-YEAR-
1975
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
OPENING OF SCHOOL TERM
-PLACE-
PINAR DEL RIO
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC SVC
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19750904
-TEXT-
CASTRO SPEAKS AT OPENING OF SCHOOL TERM

Havana Domestic Service In Spanish 2112 GMT 1 Sep 75 FL

[Speech by Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro at ceremony held in Pinar Del
Rio city to dedicate the Tania la Guerrillera teacher training school and
mark the beginning of the 1975--1976 school term--live]

[Text] Comrades of the party, of the government, and of the mass
organizations; comrade builders, comrade students: We are very pleased to
have the opportunity to inaugurate the beginning of this school year in the
province of Pinar Del Rio. Of course, we are sorry we could not have gotten
wet along with you, in view of the fact that the rain began [applause] a
few minutes before we arrived. I thought it might be raining here, however,
I was certain that none of you would leave your place. [applause]

A few months ago, in February of this year, when we visited this school
while it was still under construction, the workers of Farm and Social
Building Development [DESA] brigade No 600 planned to complete the school,
particularly the annex primary school, by December. And we told them that
it was possible that we might inaugurate the school year in Pinar Del Rio
and that we had to have the school completed. They pledged to finish
construction on the school by that date, 3 months ahead of schedule. And
they have fulfilled their pledge. That is why the school is finished today,
and we can open this school year in the proper framework.

This is one of the country's most beautiful teacher training schools,
[applause] and it bears the glorious and heroic name of Tania la
Guerrillera. [applause] It has a primary school annex, with a 600-pupil
capacity, in which the students can do their practice teaching in addition
to the work-study program in other schools of Pinar Del Rio and the
provinces.

With this school and the other one, on which construction is beginning in
San Cristobal, we will have the necessary schools for training primary
teachers in this province, and if there is a surplus we can send them to
other provinces. If Cuba has a surplus [applause], since similar schools
are under construction in the other provinces, this surplus of certified
teachers can be used to give the teachers who are working now an
opportunity to improve themselves and to study. And if we still have a
surplus of teachers--as you know, there is a lack of teachers in many
places in Latin America and elsewhere in the world, and we seek a kind of
teacher who can teach not only in the city, but also in the rural areas,
not only in the plains regions, but also in the mountain regions--we hope
that none of you will reject the opportunity of working in a small school
in the mountains, should circumstances require it. [applause]

We also hope that if someday a sister nation should ask us for cooperation
in sending teachers, the number of teachers who volunteer to teach in other
lands will always be greater than the number we need, [applause]
particularly the students of this school, which is named after a heroic
international combatant. [applause]

We are improving throughout the country in the educational area. The
1974-1975 school year which has just ended had a magnificent record. Many
of our problems still exist because of the massive number of the Cuban
students, because of the student explosion, particularly on the level of
the secondary school, and thus, despite the revolution's immense
educational program, we still do not have enough facilities. Where would
you, who certainly have just entered this school, have been able to study
if construction on this school had not been completed by this date? Despite
the schools that are being built the length and breadth of the country,
unfortunately we still do not have enough schools. The rate of school
construction has been very great since 1970. This program was stepped up as
of 1970.

Beginning in 1970, this program was intensified. In 1970 we built three
schools. They were rural secondary schools. In 1971 we built eight schools.
In 1972 we built 42 schools. In 1973 we built 112 schools. In 1974 we built
108, and in 1975 we built 107. [applause] Of course, some are still under
construction and will be completed during the month of September, according
to the commitment of the construction sector.

The school capacity has continued to increase even though fewer schools
will be built in 1975 as compared to 1974. Actually, these schools are much
larger, they will accommodate 5,000 more students. As you all know, some
schools are larger than others. A secondary school accommodates 500
students, but a teacher training school has room for 2,000. A vocational
school, like the ones under construction in Las Villas and Oriente
provinces, has room for 4,500. [figures as heard]

But the schools which have been built in the teacher training school
program--schools with a capacity of 78,240--are not enough. It has been
necessary for us to figure out other ways. And i4hat have we come up with?
We have come up with so-called provisional schools. What is a provisional
school? The difference between the provisional schools and this type of
school is that they are not made of prefabricated concrete following a
certain type of construction. They are built with lumber, and have dorms,
classrooms and dining rooms. They are not as good as these.

We have visited some of these provisional schools and they are good. A.t
least they help solve the problem. For if we do not have enough concrete,
steel bars and all the rest, these schools made out of lumber can be built
very rapidly. Last year we had to build a large number of them, and this
year we had to build many more, to the point where 48 provisional schools
are now under construction. We called them provisional but that does not
mean that we are going to do away with them very soon. We cannot enjoy the
luxury of eliminating schools. Not a single one in the intermediate level!
Our problem is in the intermediate level school.

These schools will remain open several years. When we finish all the
programs, then we will begin building to replace the wooden schools with
regular ones that we are currently working on. I explain this to you so
that you may have an idea of the magnitude of this educational explosion.
This is the result of the improvement of the educational system, improved
school attendance, improved promotion and improved school curriculum.

We all know that all children at the primary school level have been taken
care of, but in the ages of 13 to 16 years of age there are many who are
not attending school. We have to work arduously so that the number of
children attending school in these ages will be similar to that in the
primary school level. This is the situation we have. Every time we begin
the school term we face a true agony, because the schools that we have
completed are not enough despite the enormity of the program. We have to
build provisional schools, and not only provisional schools but we must
build classrooms, large buildings, anything in order to fulfill the goal of
the party, which is not to have one single student who has graduated from
sixth grade who does not have the opportunity to continue to higher
education.

The rain is still around.

In Pinar del Rio the educational indexes have improved markedly, and school
construction continues to move ahead uninterruptedly. In this province
there were no schools built of this type--the intermediate level type--in
1970. In 1971 only one was built. In 1972 two were built. In 1973, 9 were
built; in 1974, 13; and in 1975, 3. Among them, there are some primary
schools, such as the one attached to this school.

A total of 38 modern schools have been built in recent years. This pace of
no less than three schools of this type, which we hope will be raised in
future years, will it make possible in years to come to have all the
schools needed by the province. [paragraph continues] The construction
workers of Pinar del Rio Province have overfulfilled their plans, whether
it be the programs of the Agency for Development of social and
Livestock-Agriculture Construction, or of the national
livestock-agriculture construction, or of industrial construction, or of
the industry of construction materials.

The province, the provincial party and its first secretary Commander
Camacho [applause] [leaves thought unfinished] Commander Camacho was a
combatant during the years of the struggle to attain revolutionary power.
He later worked in the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and today he
demonstrates his ability in the creative task of the revolution by heading
the party in this province. [applause]

They have taken great interest in the development of this region of our
country, of this province which in the past was known as the Cinderella of
Cuba [applause], and which today, because of its efforts, holds one of the
first places in the advance toward development and toward progress.
[applause] On all fronts--in construction, in agriculture, industry,
education, public health--they are making a considerable and encouraging
effort.

Thus, we see that the province has rapidly changed over the years.
Enterprises are being constructed; citrus fruit, rice and sugarcane
projects as well as projects for other crops are being developed. Roads,
highways, houses, industries, hospitals and schools are being built
everywhere. That is why we have already attained this pace of creating
facilities for the normal school program, because it has always been our
goal to create facilities for more than 8,000 new students annually.

That is: to create, besides numerous primary school classrooms, secondary
school expansions, everything that is necessary so that not a single young
person or child in Pinar del Rio will be without an opportunity to study.
[applause]

The projects in this province include the forestry institute that was built
in the mountains. It is a magnificent institute and is of great importance
to our country. There are the basic secondary school projects connected
with the citrus fruit developments in the province. There is the
technological school for health, which has also just been completed. There
is the school for physical education instructors. There is a poly-technical
school for construction. In conclusion, there is not a single branch of
education that is not being considered and taken care of.

At present construction is planned on a sports education school, because
the province does not want to be left behind in sports activities. So they
did very well to build the school for physical education instructors--it is
more important--so that this school will not only have magnificent teachers
for general and special education, but also good physical education
instructors. [applause] Moreover, the province has made many improvements
in the area of sports lately. [applause]

I believe that this provides all of us with an incentive and encouragement,
particularly the families of Pinar del Rio, [applause] who know that their
children's future is assured. [applause] And to be able to say this, and to
be able to affirm that the families of Pinar del Rio have an assured future
is one of the revolution's great achievements in this province. [applause]

It proves that all the efforts and sacrifices were worthwhile. It is truly
a great pleasure to come to this place and to find youths like these
[applause], and workers like those, who with their white hardhats represent
the builders of this province, [applause]

With their hands they have created these impressive marvels. Education,
yes. Today many underdeveloped countries use the progress of the Cuban
revolution in education as their model, and even developed countries admire
it. [applause] This does not mean that we Cubans are completely satisfied
with these successes.

We are happy, very happy, over the great advances that we have made in
recent years. But we are also very much aware of the problems that we still
have, of the deficiencies and of the difficulties. And if today the Cuban
educational system is admired, it will be admired much more in the not too
distant future when the difficulties that we still have are overcome.
[applause]

We know that we are advancing very firmly, in an irresistible manner,
toward a better situation in future years. [applause] We know that each
year that goes by we will accumulate hundreds of modern school facilities
[applause], that we will have more and more intermediate level schools,
increasingly more higher education schools, more and more child care
centers, more and more special schools, more and more sports schools and
physical education teacher training schools, technological institutes and
polytechnic schools, child care center teacher training schools and all
types of schools that the country needs. [applause]

In years to come we will have more cement, more construction materials,
more equipment, more experienced construction workers, and we will be able
to give a better response to our aspirations of placing education in the
very first place among goals of the revolution [applause], for education is
the future of the new generations. [applause] Education is the future of
the country. [applause] But not only will we have better facilities but
also better educational experience, better professors, better qualified and
trained. [applause]

At the present time a high percentage of the professors [profesores] have
no degrees, but the Ministry of Education hopes to have all teachers of
primary schools holding degrees by 1980 through the people's teacher
training plans and teacher training schools of this type. [applause] By
1980 all primary school teachers will have degrees. [applause]

In the same manner the training of intermediate level and higher education
teachers will be developed. The child care center teacher training schools
will also have more specialized personnel to care for the children, because
education begins at the child care center. Not only will we have better
trained and qualified teachers but the curricula and the organization of
the educational programs will be superior. [applause]

Currently the ministry is working very intensely in what is called the plan
for the improvement of the educational system, which is a complete work,
arduous and lasting several years, but which will translate into a very
superior quality of education, taking advantage of the Cuban experiences,
the experiences of the fraternal socialist countries and the experiences of
the whole world. This will make it possible for us to reduce the number of
years spent in primary school and intermediate level school from 13 years
to 12 years, to have 3 years of secondary level school instead of 4.
[applause] And we will still have better qualified and better trained
students. [applause]

During this year that just ended we made outstanding advances in all
respects. In school attendance, that is percentage of students 6 to 12
years of age attending school, we almost had 100 percent. [applause] How
many countries in Latin America have this record? Among students 13 to 16
years of age, it is lower. Last year it was 71.7 percent--that is in the
previous term; in this school term that just ended it was 73.1 percent. If
we take the group between the ages of 6 and 16 as a whole, then we have a
percentage of 92.8 in the school term that just ended. The previous year it
was 91.5 percent.

The percentage of students who stay in school: Primary school had 98.4
percent in the school term that just ended. The previous school term had
98.2 percent. Basic secondary school had 95.2 percent in the school term
that just ended; in the Previous one, 93.5 percent. Preuniversity schools
reported 96.8 percent this school term and 96.3 percent in the previous
one. Technical and professional schools showed 82.1 percent last school
term and in the previous one 85.1. There was a decline in this type of
school.

As you know, this year Promotions have been very high. For example, the
average promotion between the years 1962 and 1972 was 71.7 Percent. The
percentage for the previous school term was 88.7 and the school term that
Just ended was 92.5. [applause] We have already reached 92.5 percent in
school attendance. [as heard]

In the basic secondary school, during the previous decade, 1962--73, it was
63.6. Last year it was 91.2--the previous school year that is--and it was
94.4 during the past school year. [applause]

This year the promotion rate was 98.1 in the basic secondary schools in the
countryside. It was 95.2 during the previous year. Actually, it is a very
high figure.

Preuniversity in the countryside: The promotion rate was 95.2. No, I made a
mistake. Preuniversity in the countryside: The promotion rate was 99.6
percent. [applause] During the previous year it was 98.7. But these
promotion rates of 98.1 in the secondary schools in the countryside and of
99.6 in the preuniversity schools in the countryside provide irrevocable
proof of the success of these work-study schools. [applause]

Never in the history of our country had anyone expected such high promotion
rates. That is why there is an extraordinary request for scholarships to
these schools. When the first work-study schools in the countryside began
operating, it was not certain how the families would receive these schools.
We ourselves were certain that the reception would be good. However, facts
indicate that the results were better than everything we had expected.
Thus, in Havana Province itself, where many schools of this type have been
built, we find that there is an extraordinary demand for scholarships. It
is estimated that if the installations were available, in Havana alone
families would request up to 50,000 new scholarships. [applause] In other
words, Cuban families have clearly understood the quality and the
superiority of this kind of school. This guarantees the perfect coincidence
of the interests of the family with the interests of society as a whole
[applause], and when we have built all the necessary installations students
at the intermediate level will all have the opportunity to receive this
kind of education.

In the primary teacher training school, the promotion rate was 97.2
[applause] as compared with 90.7 percent during the previous school year.
The promotion rate in technological and professional education was 93.3 as
compared with 92 percent during the previous school year. Finally, the
adult education rate had a promotion rate of 75.7 as compared with 72.6
during the previous school year. The difference between the promotion rate
during the middle of the decade and the 1974-1975 school year means that
393,500 more pupils were promoted; in the secondary schools 60,800
[applause]; and in the preuniversity schools, 4,800 pupils. At all levels
and in all types of education the increase amounts to 494,000 pupils.

The ministry calculated the economic significance of this, in view of what
one course per student costs. This improved promotion rate represents a
saving of 50 million pesos in education. If you have a student who costs so
much and he is left back he has lost the money it cost to educate him. And
when the student is promoted, all the money society has spent on him has
been spent properly, and when he is not promoted, all this money and effort
is lost.

The mass of students is increasing each year. Before the victory of the
revolution there were 811,000 pupils in the primary schools. No, the total
number was 811,300 students. A total of 3,071,800 students are expected to
register for the 1975-1976 school year. In the year before the revolution
there were 717,400 pupils in the primary schools. This year 1,925,700
pupils are expected to register. There were 88,100 students in the
secondary schools. During this year already we have a registration of
613,800. [Words indistinct] ]and we have not counted the students in the
intermediate level schools, in the schools for physical education
instructors, the child care centers, and in public health. Only those in
the Ministry of Education, in the normal educational system--the other
education system is also considered normal. [laughter] The overall figure
approaches 630,000 or 640,000 intermediate level students. In other words
we have six times more students at the intermediate level than before the
revolution.

[Castro is heard mumbling figures] i am not good with arithmetic.
[laughter] In basic secondary school, it is very big. There were 26,300 and
we now have 389,400. We have really multiplied there. This means that the
population is about 60 percent larger since the triumph of the revolution,
but the students in intermediate level have grown by 700 percent. That is,
if my arithmetic is good. In my time we did not have modern mathematics.
[laughter]

In technical--professional education there were 15,600 and in this school
term we have 105,500. We cannot establish any comparison in the university
level because it was closed Before it was closed, there were some 18,000
students; not quite 20,000. This school term there are 76,900. [applause]
There is a very important difference. Before, only those with economic
means could attend the university, and today everybody that has the merits
and intelligence can study, notwithstanding his wealth, that is, any young
man in this country. [applause]

In special education there was nothing to show for it. Today there are
12,000. These schools are for children with some type of difficulty, and
for whom we have to show concern, and we have to educate them. Socialism
cannot neglect a single one of its children, not a single one of its
children and not a single one of its youth. [applause]

Prior to the revolution there was no adult education. What interest would
the latifundists aid bourgeois have in teaching the adults to read and
write? That would have meant a headache. Today there are 443,400 persons
attending adult education. The number of adult persons attending education
is close to half a million.

These are the statistics that reflect the qualitative leap forward taken by
our education in recent years. This of course demands the work of a large
number of persons and a large number of professors and teachers. Currently
we have 150,938 teachers and professors teaching classes in schools. There
are 78,451 in primary schools; in intermediate level schools, 37,577; in
higher education, 5,725; in adult education, 26,668; and in special
education, 2,392.

This explosion that we mentioned before--we do not know if it is
conventional or atomic [laughter]--intermediate level students can also be
explained with the figures. All that mass that began attending primary
school at the beginning of the revolution is about to graduate. In the
1970-1971 school term 82,300 graduated from sixth grade. In the 1971-1972
school term 107,700 graduated. In the 1972-1973 school term 135,900
graduated and in the 1973-1974 school term, 167,900. And in the 1974--1975
school term that just ended, 188,700 graduated from sixth grade. [applause]

With this growing mass, which of course will fortunately reach a
limit--because everything levels off--approximately 200,000 will graduate
annually. It will not continue to grow. If this continues to grow, we have
no idea where we would have to send those sixth grade students. The
preoccupation of the party, government, the Ministry of Education, our
people and everybody today is that all of you have the opportunity to
study, that every one of the sixth grade graduates have the possibility of
being able to continue studying. We do not accomplish anything with just a
sixth grade education.

Modern life, modern industry, modern technology, the modern society and,
above all the socialist society, need a people of a high cultural and
technical level.

We cannot leave anyone in the sixth grade. Our struggle today, in these
years, as last year, this year and for 2 or 3 more years to come, will be
to find how to give high school classes to those sixth--grade
graduates--with a modern school, or with additional classrooms, in the
country or in the city, with a reconditioned house, in a ship, or anywhere.
Fortunately, we are solving the problem of professors through the
pedagogical detachment, [applause] which has been a magnificent aid to
education. Thanks to it, we have been able to construct all these schools
in the countryside--the rustic ones and the temporary wooden ones. If there
is a roof under which the student can sleep, a desk at which he can sit, a
dining room where he may eat, a bathroom where he can bathe, some fields in
which he may practice sports, and some agricultural fields where he may
work and he has no professor, at least he has a school.

And this matter of assistant teachers is being solved through the
detachment. It is necessary that we win this battle with the aid of all
organizations and all the people, in line with the slogan that no sixth
grade student must be left without a school in which to continue his
studies.

The country employs a great number of men and women in educational tasks.
One has to count more than just the teachers; those who carry out other
educational activities also must be counted. In June of this year the
Education Ministry had 233,100 workers. The number of Education Ministry
workers increases by approximately 20,000 a year. With the development of
education, we have one of the most important sources of employment in the
country.

One of the sectors which has the greatest growth today in employment is
construction. But in education there are approximately 20,000 new posts a
year--posts which are basically filled by women. It is one of the most
important sources of female employment.

But the ministry is concerned with improving educational yields. The number
of professors [word indistinct] to offer a number of hours and kinds of
classes according to international standards. That is why it makes an
effort to lighten the professors' activities, because in addition to their
teaching activities, they are assigned a large number of social activities,
which rob them of time to study or prepare classes or review exams. If
there is not improved production from the teaching personnel, there will be
a need for practically 30,000 new workers a year. It is estimated that
there will be (?registration) of some 90,000 to 100,000 over the next 5
years, provided there is an increase in school construction. To achieve
this, all of us must help to lighten the other tasks of the teaching staff,
so that the teachers may dedicate themselves strictly to education.

There is no doubt that the work of the teaching staff in education cannot
be underestimated. It has extraordinary social importance and value. The
party and government will not scrimp on efforts for the improvement of
teaching personnel at all levels. [applause] In fact, in future years,
entry into this field will require higher grades. Today those who join the
detachment are high school graduates--from the 10th grade. We hope that,
effective in 1977, those who join the detachment will be prep school
graduates. Today those who enter the schools for training elementary school
teachers are sixth grade graduates. We hope that in 1977 those who enter
will be high school graduates. This will be possible because of the large
number of students who are now entering high school and because of the
explosion of which we spoke.

If now the teachers for elementary school are recruited from the sixth
grade because there were not enough at a different level, later we can
recruit them from high school, and those for the detachment from a higher
level. Additionally, we will have a number of students for university
careers and for professional careers in general. This will raise the level
of our schools, you understand.

I see that you have remained very quiet. [applause] This will not harm you
in any way. You entered with a sixth grade education through necessity, and
those of the detachment entered with a 10th grade education through
necessity. In the future you will enter with a high level. This will be
because of the need to improve our educational system.

Of course, all of you will have the opportunity to continue studying when
you graduate from a school--a chance to improve yourselves. But I explain
this to you as evidence of the revolution's interest in improving--year by
year--the quality of our education.

In the years to come much attention will also be paid to child centers.
Schools to train personnel for these centers are already being built. And
there is a plan for the next 5 years according to which the centers built
by these sectors and those built by [word indistinct] will be 600 over the
next 5 years. There is also a plan for the construction of agricultural
schools throughout the country and a program for the establishment of
institutions to train professors for these special schools. There is also a
program for the construction of hospitals, clinics and dental clinics and a
program for the construction of old folk's homes and homes for the
physically disabled. This social development of the revolution will advance
parallel with the economic development.

Among those present are represented the various schools of the province.
But I wish to note especially that present here are students of the Antonio
Vitera rural preparatory school, [applause] who have obtained a promotion
[applause]--who have obtained this year a promotion of 100 percent
[applause] and who, for two courses, have occupied the first national place
among the precollege students in the field. [applause] I understand that on
this issue of promotions the ministry plans to change the rules of
promotions or, better still, the requirements for promotion and consider as
promoted the student who passes 100 percent of the subject. According to
what we have read, it seems that the classical rule so far is to consider
promoted [words indistinct] to promote with two subjects. In the spirit of
being more demanding and rigorous and improving the quality of our
education, the student will be considered promoted who passes 100 percent
of his subject. This will naturally set another rule. This year will not be
compared with last year because this year a student with one or even two
subjects is considered promoted. In other words, it can be stated that the
question of promotions begins again with a new rule. [Words indistinct]
that (?precollege) have a high percentage, and if this rule had been
applied they would have taken the first national place anyway. [applause]

Each year, as is logical, calls for improvement. Each year, as is logical,
more is asked of our youth, and we are convinced that the first to accept
and support this demand of better quality are our own students. [applause]
A socialist student has many responsibilities. He has all opportunities to
study, develop his talents in all fields, but along with this he acquires
greater responsibility to society and to the fatherland. There is a
Pioneers representation here also. [applause] As you know, the Pioneers
organization grows and becomes consolidated each year. And it is very
important. Every year we appreciate the growing love of the Pioneers for
their organization and every year we appreciate more the extraordinary
value of this organization of our children. They are beginning to camp in
various parts of the country. Matanzas is building one, Las Villas is
building one, Camaguey has its own, Havana is building one and is partly
using it, and so the Pioneers camp of Pinar Del Rio is missing. [applause]
I understand that a beautiful place has been selected and that they will
work toward this. Pioneers palacas are also being built or organized. In
Santingo de Cuba there is one, there is one in Camaguey, and in the future
in all important cities there will have to be a Pioneers palace, which has
great importance to liven the interest and develop all the inclinations of
the children. So that if every province of the ones we have now and of the
ones we will have in the future will have to think about having a Pioneers
camp, they will have to do the same thing about the Pioneers palaces which
are a magnificent [applause]--magnificent supplement of the schools. In
recent visits by foreign dignitaries to our country, they had contact with
the children and were deeply impressed by the cultural and political level
of our children. In Varadero, an international camp is being built with a
capacity for 1,000 Pioneers where 500 foreign Pioneers will come together
each year with 500 Cuban Pioneers. In turn, several hundred Pioneers will
travel to other countries each year. This created links and tight
relationships with the children and youth of other peoples. The Pioneers
already have 851 music bands and, if I am not mistaken, several tens of
thousands of fan groups. I have been informed that there were approximately
500,000 Pioneers participating in fan groups. And in the camps visited by
foreign delegations the children have organized their own artistic
performances, which have deeply impressed the visitors.

Amid the difficulties, the efforts and successes of these years accumulate.
Fortunately, therefore, our country can present to Cuban society and to
have world these great social advancements which could never have been
accomplished under capitalism. Never in a society led according to the
rules of egoism and man's exploitation of man. [applause] This spectacle
that we see here, this youth, these workers, this panorama of the country's
future which we see here today, could only be the result of the socialist
revolution. [applause]

Only under socialism, a solid, fraternal, and human society without man's
exploitation of man, without individual egoism, can these accomplishments
be obtained. Many admire these successes in other places and are surprised
at these accomplishments, but there is one unquestionable truth: If society
is not transformed, if man's exploitation of man is not eradicated, if a
social, human regime is riot established, then it is impossible to achieve
these results. It is impossible to obtain these successes. To us present
here, seeing you, the professors, the parents, the workers, the Pioneers,
the pedagogical detachment, the paid precollege students and the students
of this school, and the representatives of the various branches of
education in our province, it is a rare privilege, the privilege of seeing
a clear future for the nation. It is a great satisfaction, an immense
pleasure to see how our youth is advancing toward the future and our
people, our party are proud of their youth, proud of their students and pin
on them their most intimate aspirations and greatest hopes. [applause]

We urge you to continue on that ascending path of progress, of improvement,
of perfection. We urge you to realize the dreams of the founders of the
fatherland and the creators of the revolution throughout 100 years or for
more than 100 years of struggle. We urge you to continue the unceasing
struggle to be always better, to be always more revolutionary. Cuban
workers will continue to give of their best efforts and sweat to guarantee
the best figures to you. [applause] And we are certain that you, from the
Pioneers to the university students, will know how to respond.

Fatherland or Death, we will win.
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