-DATE- 19890905 -YEAR- 1989 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- -AUTHOR- -HEADLINE- President Castro Speaks on Special Education -PLACE- CARIBBEAN / Cuba -SOURCE- Havana Radio Rebelde Network -REPORT_NBR- FBIS-LAT-89-174 -REPORT_DATE- 19890911 -HEADER- BRS Assigned Document Number: 000017956 Report Type: Daily Report AFS Number: FL0809144989 Report Number: FBIS-LAT-89-174 Report Date: 11 Sep 89 Report Series: Daily Report Start Page: 2 Report Division: CARIBBEAN End Page: 9 Report Subdivision: Cuba AG File Flag: Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Language: Spanish Document Date: 05 Sep 89 Report Volume: Monday Vol VI No 174 Dissemination: City/Source of Document: Havana Radio Rebelde Network Report Name: Latin America Headline: President Castro Speaks on Special Education Author(s): President Fidel Castro delivered during the official ceremony marking the beginning of the 1989-90 school year, during which six special education schools were inaugurated, in La Lisa Municipality, Havana, on 4 September--recorded] Source Line: FL0809144989 Havana Radio Rebelde Network in Spanish 2300 GMT 5 Sep 89 Subslug: [Speech by President Fidel Castro delivered during the official ceremony marking the beginning of the 1989-90 school year, during which six special education schools were inaugurated, in La Lisa Municipality, Havana, on 4 September--recorded] -TEXT- FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE: 1. [Speech by President Fidel Castro delivered during the official ceremony marking the beginning of the 1989-90 school year, during which six special education schools were inaugurated, in La Lisa Municipality, Havana, on 4 September--recorded] 2. [Text] Students, teachers, guests, comrades: As previously mentioned, the 1989-90 school year began today. We inaugurated six special education schools today. There are more schools. I am also talking about the primary education prototype school. We call it prototype because it is the type of school we want to establish for the primary schools construction program. We are also building a secondary education prototype school. 3. This is important because it is linked with the idea of completely developing the primary and secondary school network in the capital. We still have many schools in structures that have been adapted for them. It is not that there are not enough primary schools. It is not that there are no secondary schools. Many have very good installations that must be maintained, so no new buildings have to be built for those schools. However, others are still in structures that have been adapted for schools. 4. Not all schools have the necessary material conditions. They do not all have adequate classrooms. Sometimes, the classroom is a warm little room without basic facilities. Some have over 30 pupils. We want each primary school to have the necessary facilities with less than 30 students and we want the teaching to be conducted with all the necessary requirements. In other words, there are enough primary and secondary schools but not all have adequate facilities. 5. Once these special education schools, child care centers, and polyclinics have been completed, we intend to develop other programs. In the field of education, the future problem is construction of all the primary education installations needed to achieve the best conditions in primary education and the best conditions in secondary education. Among other things, we are thinking that each of these schools should have after-school day care facilities, not for all students but for the children of working mothers. After-school day care is the continuation of the child care center. When the child reaches the age of 6, he goes to primary school. If the mother works, she needs a place for the child to stay until she comes back from work. 6. We propose to have after-school care for the children of working mothers in all these new secondary schools. A child completes primary school at the age 13 or 14. He also needs somebody to look after him. He needs a place to eat lunch. We know that many children go home and go through the trouble of warming up food left for them. We intend to have all new secondary schools have their own kitchen and lunchrooms, or at least, lunchrooms. These schools can either have the food prepared in a larger facility or prepare the food right there so that they don't have to depend on anyone. One of our future dreams is to develop these programs in education. 7. We have already completed the child care center program with 110 child care centers built in 2 years. Of course, more child care centers need to be built: five, six, or seven. This is not a great number of child care centers. Fortunately, child care centers have already been built. There was a demand for 19,000 slots, and 24,000 have been created. This is why we no longer have the great pressures we used to have. However, the number of working mothers continues to increase and more child care centers need to be built every year to keep up with the demand, but a massive program is not needed. 8. The polyclinic program will be completed this year. So no new polyclinics will have to be built unless there is a new housing area. Our polyclinics network will be completed. All new polyclinics have physical therapy gymnasiums. We have left those with good installations in the old structures. Next year--starting now--we will start building a physical therapy gymnasium in each one of them. More than a gymnasium, we are going to offer physical therapy services. The polyclinics will not have a gymnasium proper but will provide physical therapy services. 9. These three important programs will be completed this year. The child care center program was completed last year. The polyclinic program and the special education school program, totalling 24, will be completed this year. 10. As Maximo [not further identified] said here, six were inaugurated, and the two that had already been inaugurated makes eight. We need to build 16 more. We expect them to be completed by December. Minibrigade members have many commitments and have done a great deal of work. They are making a special effort. 11. What do these special education schools mean? Above all, they mean quality of education. There was talk of illiteracy at the beginning of the revolution. There was talk of 25 or 30 percent illiteracy, talk of several thousand adults being illiterate. There were hundreds of thousands of children who did not have teachers, who did not have schools. We talked about these kinds of things during the first years of the revolution. 12. There have been colossal changes in all this. In the country today, there is not a single child without a school. Some schools may be better than others, some older, one may be in better condition, and another that is not in such good condition. However, there is not one child without a teacher. In addition to this, we have a reserve of 17,000 teachers. We use them to aid in the improvement of the rest of teachers and professors. We didn't have enough teachers at the beginning of the revolution. Many of them were in the capital. Not all of them were willing to go to the countryside, to live in the mountains, in rural areas. None of these problems exist today. 13. There were no technological schools at the triumph of the revolution. There were not enough secondary schools and, needless to say, not enough pre-university schools. Thousands of schools had to be built to solve all kinds of problems. Technological schools, teachers' schools, schools for physical education teachers, vocational schools, rural schools. All these problems have been solved. These are problems of the past. We have over 1 million students on scholarships. I do not know the figure. I do not know the current exact number of students with scholarships among the boarding and semiboarding students. [Education Minister Jose Ramon] Fernandez, who should know, says it is 1.1 million. This is a fantastic figure. No country in the world has this figure. I am not speaking of a Latin American country. No country has educational opportunities up to the university level. There are already over 200,000 university students. Strict requirements have had to be established to enter higher education. 14. We have fulfilled all these stages. What do we have ahead of us? We have quality, the matter of quality. What is quality? Quality is to introduce computer training into all university level education. This is the first thing we have done over the last few years. Quality is to bring computers into all preuniversity schools, all technological schools, in all schools for teachers, in all secondary schools in the country. This is quality. This is the quality we have been introducing over the last few years. Next year, everyone, even secondary-level students, will have computer training. This is very important. 15. It is not a sport, although it could turn into a sport. Many people have fun working with those machines and making computations. Entertainment is introduced into some of them. 16. However, an architect or an engineer who does not know about computers cannot use many machines or many programs that would allow them to increase their productivity tenfold. Sometimes a calculation needs to be made on the metal structure of a 10- or 15-story building. They could spend 60 hours making calculations. They can make the same calculations with a computer and a program in 3 hours. This is to cite just an example. An architect or an engineer in any specialty area who knows about computers can increase his productivity by many times and do things with more accuracy. There are even machines and programs that design. Humanity has progressed a great deal in this field. 17. We now have programs to teach architects and engineers who did not learn about computers when they went to the university. The planning front has received resources and has organized programs so that all engineers who did not have the privilege of learning about computers can now learn and master them. This is quality. 18. Quality is when a program is perfected, is improved, is more efficient. This is why there is a systematic and continuing education program. Quality is when our teachers have more experience, when they master educational techniques better. Quality is when there are audio-visual resources. Quality is when there are facilities. I can cite the example of the Jose Antonio Echeverria Higher Polytechnical Institute, ISPJAE--it used to be CUJAE [expansion unknown]--which has been under construction for many years. Students had difficulties in studying. Now, we have created a contingent. Contingents do solve problems wherever they go. 19. A contingent will complete in a short period of time a building that has been under construction for over 20 years. It is ready to go there. We have created another contingent to complete another project that was sleeping an eternal sleep. 20. Quality is to create adequate facilities for students. Quality is to have adequate laboratories. Many medical students studied in the midst of noise and dust created by the construction around them. Magnificent installations for medical studies are now being completed. We have seen the one in Sancti Spiritus. Who would have dreamed of this? That installation is fantastic, as is the one in Camaguey, which was recently inaugurated. They are excellent installations. Logically, students can develop better with installations of this kind. They can assimilate things better. They have more facilities. 21. As I have said before, the worst thing was when there was no dust and noise because nothing was being built. A few holes and some columns were made. Work is being done in all those schools and they are being completed. All of this is quality, but this is not the only thing quality entails. 22. Quality is to have a child care center where children can begin learning at a very early age. They are taught music, their reflexes are developed, their intelligence is developed. Intelligence! In other words, a child increases his capabilities. It is said that much advantage is taken of intelligence but little advantage is taken of the brain's potential. 23. If pedagogy is greatly developed, if this science is boosted, the percentage of grey matter each human being has in his brain that is used will also increase. Child care centers are important because they develop potential. This potential is developed until a child reaches a certain age. After that age, his potential and his actual capabilities reach the same level. The best thing an individual can do is to attempt to fill his mind with information and knowledge, but he will not have more capability--that is, he can acquire a great deal of information but he will not be more intelligent because of this. He will be more knowledgeable. 24. I have always said that child care centers are important because they develop a child's intelligence. They increase his capabilities. Afterwards, he can increase his knowledge endlessly. Pedagogy is precisely the science of teaching the maximum amount of knowledge. However, it is not only this. Above all, it teaches the individual to think. As the material he has in his brain gets better, the more intelligent individual will better be able to think. 25. Therefore, I could say that the child care center program is a solution for working mothers and, also, it enables children to develop more intelligence. These children are preparing for the future. Child care centers improve the quality of education. This is quality. 26. Who knows how those children who attend child care centers will turn out. We believe that a day will come when not only the children of working mothers will go to child care centers. We hope that there will be a day when we have enough child care centers and resources so that all children can attend these centers. If not, the child that attends a center will have more capabilities than the one who does not. It is better for the country if all the children develop their intelligence to the maximum. 27. I have been citing some examples of quality. Everybody thinks that all children are exactly the same. However, this is not the case. There are children who have hearing impairments. They were born with the problem. Fortunately, nowadays we have equipment to find out if a child has a hearing impairment within 24 hours. Much can be done even in cases in which a child has a hearing impairment. Nowadays, there are technical solutions even for those who have total hearing loss so that these children can have normal intellectual development. If the problem is not detected and the child is not educated, the child's mental development is slowed down. His intelligence quotient drops because he cannot hear. 28. Today, there is the possibility of not only implanting some gadgets that can help some of these children to hear, but there are also methods to teach these children. In many cases, the problem can be solved. Few cases suffer from total lack of hearing. They may have 50-, 30-, 40-percent hearing loss. It varies. Those children need special schools. They cannot be sent to regular schools. 29. There are children who have vision problems. They are not blind but they have various vision problems. They can lose their sight if they are not treated. If they are given the right treatment they can recover their vision totally or to a great degree. Special schools for those children are needed. 30. There are children who have physical limitations. They have them because they were born with them or because they got them because of some disease or accident. Those children cannot carry out a normal life in any school. They need a special school. 31. There are children who are behind in their psychological development. They cannot be sent to any school. We inaugurated four of those schools today. They cannot follow the rest of the class. The rest are left behind if attention is given to them alone. If attention is given to the rest, they are left behind. They finally drop out of school. You know the consequences when a child drops out of school and goes to the school of the streets. Anyone can understand what kind of future this child will have whether the child is a boy or a girl. 32. There are children who have very serious family problems. These children develop certain problems. They develop behavioral problems. Those children cannot be in other schools and they cannot be abandoned. They need special schools. 33. There are children who have irreversible mental retardation. However, those children need to be educated. What are you going to do with a child who is mentally retarded? Leave him out there? Send him to a regular school? He is still retarded, he drops out of school, and what happens later? I think a lot: What happens to those children in capitalist countries? They are educated in these special schools. They are taught, they are given a trade, they are trained so that they can live normally even though they are mentally retarded. 34. What can society expect from one of these creatures who grows abandoned to his own fate, without education, without anything? What will happen to them in capitalist countries? Capitalist countries don't care. How many people, how many children suffering from physical abnormalities, are there begging? Sometimes they are seen crawling because they had a bone disease that was not treated. These are other problems, but what do mentally retarded children do? Was this their fate because they were children of a poor family who ended up begging or in prison? Who knows where they end up. Every society needs these kinds of schools. In general, societies do not have these kinds of schools. 35. The revolution has been creating these schools in places that have been adapted for these purposes. It has had 40,000 of these students. Nevertheless, there was a need for special schools for 80,000. This is why when the mini-brigade movement reappeared, when we had the manpower, resources had to be found. We reached the conclusion that this problem had to be dealt with so that 100 percent of the children with these problems could have a school. We had to create room for 40,000 students in the entire country. This is what we are creating. 36. This movement began in Havana. This is why Havana has all the schools it needs. There exists 80 schools of various sizes--but they are schools that can function-- and 24 new ones. Room for almost 5,000 new students was created. This increases the available space to 60 percent. Is this not so? Is the comrade not around here? Space is increased by over 60 percent. How many students were enrolled in the capital? How many did we have? Eight thousand? 37. [Unidentified speaker says: ``There were slots that did not exist''] 38. There were slots that did not exist. Of course. In addition to the slots that did not exist, we had a total of.... 39. [Unidentified speaker continues to talk but words are indistinct] 40. How many old ones? How many were there before? 41. [Speaker says: ``We used to have 7,000''] . Seven thousand. And how many are we going to have now? Over 12,000. Eight by four, four by two, eight. I have 5,000. And 8 times 24 is 192. Don't you think I have a computer here. [laughter] We have 5,000 new slots. Because it [not further identified] said 208 but I saw one that said 213, or a little more, slots. So, there are 13,000 slots. If someone had a computer he could figure out the percentage of increase but, according to my figures, there is over a 60-percent increase: 7 by 8 is 56.... [Speaker says: ``Commander, the program including the 24 schools enables us to replace 23 that are in poor shape''] Oh, they replace some that are in poor shape. This is why there is not a net increase. The net increase then is 4,000--50 percent. Four thousand is half of 8,000--50 percent. [all figures in paragraph as heard] This is a notable increase. 42. The most notable thing is that we can say that the need is completely fulfilled in the area of special education schools. I know some of these schools. I have visited the school in Guanabacoa, which is for visually impaired children, two or three times. That school is marvelous. What the children learn there is marvelous. What they learn is not the most important thing. I believe it is important, but there is something that is more impressive. It is to see how a child with a patched eye and with other problems works in some laboratories the school has. Children are cured in the school. Instead of remaining blind, they acquire normal vision. It is a school and a hospital at the same time. 43. What would happen to those children if they didn't have these schools? We are building two of these, aren't we? One will be here, in this municipality. There is another for the physically disabled that is being built in Boyeros. Children in wheelchairs are not left without teachers because teachers go to their homes to give them classes. However, that child does not have contact with other children. He does not have a social life. That school is complex in its design but it is being built. 44. The country needs about three of them. There is one for the western part of the country, another one will have to be built in the center of the country. Is this not so, Fernandez? Another one will have to be built in Oriente. How many schools for physically disabled children are needed in the country? [Fernandez response indistinct] Only two. One here and another one in Oriente. He says there is little experience with this. Right? 45. However, I believe that what we have explained helps in understanding the importance of these schools, helps in understanding the importance of creating room for 80,000 students. We are already working on this throughout the entire country. The one in Havana will be finished first. Think of the peace it will bring to each family. The ideal thing would be for no child to have problems, but who can be certain that a child is not going to have problems? 46. Of course, nowadays there are techniques for the early detection of some diseases, some life-threatening congenital abnormalities. We already have those services throughout the entire country. Tests are conducted now for all pregnant women. If there is information that there is a serious problem.... [changes thought] Not all problems can be predicted. Who can predict sight or hearing problems? Perhaps science is far away from detecting them early on. [sentence as heard] People can be born with vision problems which are later resolved. 47. Some are born with heart problems that are resolved. Some cannot be resolved but most of them can. We have our children's cardiovascular surgery center. I was told yesterday, when I went to the William Soler Hospital because of the accident, that they had operated on over 1,200 children since that center was inaugurated and that they had had excellent results. What I want to say is that these schools signify quality education. 48. We visited six of these schools and the students were there. We talked to six directors and tens of professors and teachers. We visited at least 20 to 25 classrooms. We saw the children there. There are doing very well in those schools. Some are residential facilities such as the ones for the emotionally disturbed. Children recover totally and become normal. This does not mean that they are going to stay there for 6 years. They can stay an average of 1, 2, or 3 years and completely recover. This is different from the cases of mental retardation. An individual who is mentally retarded is helped a great deal in the school, learns a lot, and turns into a useful citizen. However, some of these problems are irreversible in contrast to emotional disorders, which are reversible. See how important this is? The school turns into a hospital. We inaugurated four of these schools today. I believe that of the 24 [planned] 11 have been built. What would families do with those children if there were no such schools? 49. The one we inaugurated is for behavioral problems, as it is called. These children have great intellectual potential. They are totally normal, they have normal intelligence. Some of them are very intelligent. I remember when we inaugurated the first one that is called Cuito Cuanavale. The one we inaugurated in Guanabacoa today--it was inaugurated today but it began operating a few months ago--is a terrific school. The children are very well organized there. They are educated well there. A musical group from the Cuito Cuanavale School was already there. It was an excellent musical group. 50. Now we come here to this school.... [Castro changes thought] It has been operating for some time, it was inaugurated today but it has been operating for a few months. What a great impression any visitor gets from this school! 51. They have planted a vegetable garden. They have 1 and ½ hectares to produce vegetables, tubers, and some other things, but especially vegetables for the school. Over there are the agricultural facilities. They raise sheep on the premises. The sheep graze but are also taken care of on the premises. They breed rabbits, produce eggs, produce poultry meat on the premises. How impressive are those children on the premises! They rotate the carrying out of these productive activities. They develop a great enthusiasm. I saw the adolescents and children there--they are mostly adolescents--they looked like laborers. They looked like men. They mastered what they were doing. They liked carrying out these activities. We saw the space they had and recommended they expand one of the buildings for egg production and another one for poultry meat. They are almost self-sufficient. They would be totally self-sufficient with two poultry meat buildings and another one for egg-producing hens. If they had two buildings for each, they would not only be self-sufficient, they would also be able to supply another school. 52. You can see there the pedagogic importance of these facilities. We do not do it for economic purposes because in the end they have to devote time to school. Many of the raw materials have to be imported. We do not see the economic aspect of the children or adolescents producing part of their food; we see the pedagogic effect. I talked to some of them and they told me they were going to study veterinary medicine, others were going to do something else. The vocation for those activities is being created in them. Agriculture is something very important and should not be forgotten. If everyone wants to be something other than a farmer, agricultural producer, I ask myself: How is the population going to be fed? 53. This is so important. I was so happy to see some of the children from La Lisa and El Cerro thinking about becoming farmers. The phenomenon is reversed. It doesn't mean all they are going to be is farmers. They can be laborers with various skills, in industries, construction, everything. However, it is good that some children.... [Castro changes thought] It is very satisfying for them to be able to be self-sufficient, to help produce what they use. Of course, it helps to have a guaranteed supply source. Those people will never be lacking in eggs, poultry, or rabbit meat. Not only will they never lack these things, but also they will be able to give to someone else. They have a hydroponic garden. I was telling them that 100 percent of the space was not being used. They were also going to put some vertical plants on the left. They may extend a little toward the right. They can put the [word indistinct] at the other side of the fence. In sum, they have made a great impression. The children have made a great impression. 54. These schools have their own producing workshops. These schools have their own producing agricultural areas. They help with their self-sufficiency and they help other schools. I was saying that this school is worth visiting. Any foreign visitor can be taken to any of them. I remember that when the wife of the French president came to Cuba, I took her to the school for the visually impaired children. That school is also very impressive, in a different sense. You can see the organization, the efficiency, and the teaching methods used there. 55. It is important that we are opening the school year by inaugurating six schools--as I said, they are not the only ones--six special education schools in the capital. I repeat, they are being built throughout the entire island. They are the idea of the quality we are looking for. When I was talking about quality, I did not mention vocational schools of various types and, especially, the exact sciences vocational schools. Some 40,000 students are enrolled in them in the country. 56. All of this is turning our country into an educational power. This is very important. This is why we later see science research centers. We see results. We see the anti-meningitis type b vaccine, which is solving a lot of problems in our country and in other countries. We see it in the skin growth treatment, which is being applied to those who were burned in the accident. It has already been applied for some time. Its production is being increased quickly. We see the results in the operations we perform for eyesight diseases. I can't remember the exact name. [Unidentified person says: ``retinitis pigmentosa''] What? Retinitis pigmentosa. This is a serious disease. It causes people to lose their sight. 57. Tens of millions of people in the world suffer from this disease. They first begin to lose their sight. They have limited vision and later tunnel vision, until finally nothing is left. Total darkness. A doctor in the country has developed a technique to cure this disease. This is the only country in the world with this technique. We need to develop it quickly. 58. Progress is being made in nerve cell transplants. We are ranked among the top countries in this area because of the work of Comrade Hilda Molina and a group of scientists. 59. We begin to see the people's training when our country begins to stand out with innovations that do not exist in other countries. This quality is going to translate into a great future for our fatherland. We are encouraging scientific research and the application of science to production and agriculture. The people working in these fields do miracles. We can say that the construction of engineering systems in rice fields almost doubles production per hectare. Of course, we need a number of years to apply this system. We are seeing it in the sugarcane fields; the plot drainage considerably increases production per hectare. 60. The population grows but land does not. To the contrary, there is always a little less land because we need to build an installation, hospital, factory, railroad, or a road. The population grows and the land's productivity needs to be increased. Science alone can do this. This is why the quality of education is so important. It is so important that our country is becoming an educational power in the same way as it has already become a medical power. 61. I can assure you that no capitalist country has this. It has some schools for rich people. No highly developed capitalist country has the special education school system we have or the child care center program we have or are creating for the entire population. Only part of the population has it in capitalist countries and the rest gets stuck. If a family has a problem with a child with a physical disability and needs one of those schools, or has any type of problem, or can have the behavioral disorders that are multiplying in that society.... [Castro changes thought] I am not talking about Third World countries. Unfortunately, no Third World country has these institutions. Rich and developed countries do not have these institutions. 62. If we educate our children and our youth, undoubtedly our fatherland will have a great future. We have to recognize the efforts the mini-brigade members have made in these programs. Mini-brigade members have accumulated many accomplishments. They are mainly boosting this social development. The Construction Ministry [MICONS] is building other installations, industrial and other kinds of installations, large dams, communication centers, large industries. However, the mini-brigade members are boosting this social development. 63. They have completed the 110 child centers program. They are completing the 20 polyclinics program, which should be completed this year. They are building the special education schools program. They are beginning to build primary and secondary schools to create the conditions I talked about. They have already built the first primary prototype school, and are going to build the secondary school prototype. They are going to build hundreds of those schools in future years. They are boosting the housing program extraordinarily. 64. They are boosting and carrying out the bakery program which consists of almost 100 bakeries so that the people can have warm bread and an oven almost around the corner from their homes. It was demonstrated that the large industrial production of something as traditional as bread did not guarantee quality. [Speaker: words indistinct] Why are you telling me this? I already know this. [laughter] So you are using me for your propaganda? Let me do it. [laughter] He thought I had forgotten about the rest of the things, but, well, just in case. What you did was to make me lose track of what I was saying about something else. [Crowd member says: ``bakeries, bakeries''] I was talking about bakeries, about our warm bread program, as we call it, which consists of 95, 100, or 105 bakeries. Mini-brigade workers are building them. 65. Mini-brigades have helped in the construction of important hospitals. For example, the intensive and intermediate care room of the Salvador Allende Hospital will soon be inaugurated. This is an important installation. They have built many hospital installations, expansions in hospitals. 66. They built EXPOCUBA, which has already received some 1 million visitors. It has become a recreational and educational center. 67. As Maximo was saying, afraid they would be forgotten, altogether there will be thousands, and hundreds every year of family doctor house/offices. The doctors' and nurses' house/offices are being built. The construction of these offices is important: 400 of them are being built. 68. The mini-brigades are now helping out in a colossal work for the Pan-American Games. This is a large project that will also enrich the social resources of the capital: sports, recreation. It will make it possible for our capital to honorably host an important sports events. Above all, the some 2 million residents in the capital--our people, our youth--will have magnificent installations. 69. The mini-brigades are helping in the construction of central markets. This is a new program. There will be four large markets. One of them is not far from here and one is being constructed. They will make the distribution of produce in the capital more efficient. Four large central markets, which are under construction, will surround the capital. Over 150 farmers markets will also be built. Work is being done on them at this time. They will be ready in a few months. We have asked the mini-brigades to help with these new programs. 70. The bus terminal program: Three were being built; eight were needed. The five others were scheduled to be built in 1990 and 1991. Well, we are building all of them now to help in the transportation area. In this way, the mini-brigade movement is making a great effort in the capital, and it will have to continue doing so, especially in regard to constructing houses and repairing houses. There are mini-brigades who build houses and mini-brigades who repair houses. 71. Maximo, did I forget anything? Do you have anything else? There is always something. I don't know, a service center, and perhaps even a movie theater. When new houses are built, buildings for social activities need to be built. 72. I wanted to acknowledge the effort the mini-brigade movement is making. Of course, this acknowledgement is not totally gratuitous. I hope they fulfill their plan, their promise to complete the 24 schools this year. I hope we will be able to inaugurate them in January with students and all. I hope they will complete the polyclinics that are left so that we can inaugurate all of them in January. I hope that they do not lower their guard, that they do not lose heart, that their morale does not weaken, and that they do not become soft. All the new things we could not do before are being done thanks to the mini-brigades. 73. Yes, Maximo, there was something else. The mini-brigades have helped extraordinarily in the building of construction material industries. You see? My computer has more data. [laughter] They have helped to build various kinds of tile factories. Of course, we cannot make progress without materials. What stops us is the lack of materials, but we are producing more and more. We just invested $15 million to increase capabilities, to modernize, remodel, or rebuild the Artemisa cement factory. 74. Next year, the Artemisa cement factory will have to close for over a month because of all the equipment that is needed, and a great contingent will have to do everything that needs to be done within 2 months. That monster cannot close for over 2 months or else we will all come to a standstill. The Artemisa factory is making a great effort and producing more. It will be expanded in the future. It will produce 400,000 more tons with this investment, this great investment; $15 million are $15 million of convertible currency.[as heard] We will have more cement. 75. Sand and stone quarries are being completed. La Molina is being built. A brigade is building it. A contingent brigade did the earthwork. A MICONS enterprise is doing another one. They are being built quickly to get 600,000 more cubic meters of stone and sand. El Purio stone mill has already begun to produce. A contingent built it in record time. The trains that will transport the sand are already being prepared. 76. Work is being done in Victoria Cuatro, southeast of the capital, for 300,000 more cubic meters of sand. A large brick factory is being completed. Perhaps it will be able to produce up to 50 million bricks, maybe tens of millions of bricks. The construction material industry continues to be boosted. Progress is being made at Antillana de Acero. We will have more steel. 77. However, there is something more important. Progress is being made in the saving of cement. There has been a world of progress since 1965 to date. From over 700 kg of cement per cubic meter of concrete, we are now around 450. Almost 300 cubic meters of cement are being saved per cubic meter of ton [corrects himself] 300 kg of cement per cubic meter of concrete. This means that today we almost make 2 cubic meters of concrete with the cement that we used to make only 1 cubic meter. It is harder. It is not the cement that makes it hard. Too much cement affects the concrete's quality. It should have the right proportion. This is very important. 78. By saving, we have products that require new cement production lines. In addition, we are getting new cement production lines. We are building them. We will continue to expand our cement industry. 79. We used to produce 28 cubic meters of wood, [corrects himself] 28 cubic meters of concrete per cubic meter of wood. The wood was chopped off everywhere. By saving, preserving wood, using boards, the MICONS has already reached 45 cubic meters. I don't know how the mini-brigade members are doing. We may get to 90. If 100,000 cubic meters are turned into 300,000 cubic meters of wood, we can now do with 100,000 what we used to do with 300,000. This is very important because it is very difficult to get additional amounts of wood. We have to stretch it out by saving, multiply the productivity of wood in construction. 80. Our country is also going to produce some tens of thousands of additional cubic meters of wood from the trees the revolution planted. Now we have to multiply each cubic meter of wood by three. So, construction will continue to increase. 81. We can carry out all the ambitious plans we intend to carry out. The contingents are multiplying. There are 30,000 men working in contingents with great productivity. Contingents do twice as much as was traditionally done in our country with half the people. They also do it quickly. They complete projects. They execute them with quality. So, construction will continue to increase considerably and we will be able to have the houses we need in a certain number of years. We will be able to have all the schools and all the installations we need. 82. Construction is essential for the development of the country, essential for industries and agriculture, and for economic and social development. This school needed a certain amount of cement, stone, sand, wood, steel, furniture, equipment, everything. We had to build it. We need it very much. I am sure that our construction capability will increase considerably in the next few years and our people will be able to receive the benefits of this huge effort. 83. This capability needs to be improved even more. It should be even more efficient. I use the word Zoilo [not further identified] used. Teachers should work with the contingent spirit. The idea is the contingent spirit. Working in this way, we can accelerate our development a great deal. 84. All that is left for me is to congratulate today all the education workers, all the students, all the families that have had the pleasure of sending their children to the various types of schools, to congratulate our young students. Let's hope that next year we do not only talk about six new schools, about eight new schools--which is what we have--but that we can soon talk about 24 special education schools and about all of the ones that are being built in the rest of the country. 85. Fatherland or death, we will win! [Crowd shouts: ``We will win!''] [applause] -END-