Naima Ariatne Trujillo Barreto, Minister of Education, today highlighted the importance of comprehension, trust and unity to face the challenges of the 2025-2026 school year, which began this first of September across the country, Canal Caribe reported.

In a message addressed to students, families and teachers, Trujillo Barreto underlined that, despite material limitations, the education system relies on the effort, preparation and humanism of its protagonists to guarantee school attendance.

The minister stated that more than one million 530 thousand pupils have joined classrooms across the different educational levels, in a stage marked by the continuity of the third improvement of the education system.

The central ceremony for the start of the school year took place at the Tania la Guerrillera pedagogical school, in Pinar del Río, an institution inaugurated 50 years ago by the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.

According to the Ministry of Education, the academic calendar for the present school year will extend until the end of July 2026, with an intermediate recess in December and January, and will include preparation for the implementation of the Code for Children, Adolescence and Youth.

Sector authorities reported that, although the teacher deficit has been reduced compared to previous years, shortages persist in key subjects and in some provinces coverage does not exceed 80 per cent, for which reorganisation and partial hiring measures will be applied.

The minister reaffirmed that the essential objective is that no student sees their opportunity to attend school limited, as education constitutes an indispensable component in their comprehensive formation.