CUBA – SOCIAL POLICY AT THE CROSSROADS: MAINTAINING PRIORITIES, TRANSFORMING PRACTICE
SOCIAL POLICIES AFFECTING CHILDREN
“Children are born to be happy” is a
refrain that captures Cubans’ attitudes
toward children. In comparison with the
poverty and violence felt by children in so
many parts of the world, the experience
of children in Cuba is privileged. There
are no children in Cuba who live in the
streets, and the overwhelming percent-
age of students finish high school. Drug
use among children and youth is almost
non-existent, and there is little violence
by and toward youth to speak of in
Cuban cities.
Attention to the needs of children begins
before they are born. Free health care
means that their mothers receive prenatal
care in community clinics. Women faced
with at-risk pregnancies receive care in one
of the specialty hospitals. Chances are that
the child will be born with normal weight;
92% of Cuban babies are. A Cuban newborn
has the hope of living to 74 years, compared
with the 69 years of life expectancy of a
Latin American newborn. He/she has one
of the best chances of any child in the
hemisphere to live to one year: the infant
mortality rate in Cuba, at 8.4 deaths per
1000 live births, is comparable only to those
of Canada and the United States.
Children are born into families that most
likely include several generations living in the
home. Grandparents are an important
element in the lives of children. Most likely
both parents work, and, although most fam-
ilies struggle to make ends meet, they have
a basic set of benefits that make life a bit
easier. The ration card provides at least two
weeks worth of subsidized food which the
family augments with more expensive pork,
chicken, rice, beans, and vegetables bought
in the black market, the farmers markets, or
the dollar food stores. There is significant
job security for his/her parents, by law they
pay only 10% of their salaries for rent (the
family is likely to own their home), and their
utilities are subsidized. But, in most cases,
children live in households where the essen-
tial things are taken care of, but there is not
a lot left for luxuries.
Day care may be the first formal schooling
experience, but it is not yet available for all
children. Primary schools are neighbor-
hood schools and are simple but clean; all
schoolbooks are free. In middle school
they will be exposed to art and literature
and will have biology, chemistry, and
physics before leaving the ninth grade. All
will have mastered math up to algebra and
be literate by then as well. Beginning in the
seventh grade, they will spend three weeks
working in the countryside in the “escuela
al campo.” Volunteer work in the neighbor-
hood is valued by the schools. Most children
complete nine grades of schooling; only
about 4% drop out from middle schools.
In the ninth grade children compete for
the slots in the elite pre-university schools
and in the technical and art schools. The
pre-university schools entail a rigorous
academic preparation, and most of their
students go on to the university. Technical
schools provide terminal degrees in
careers that do not require university
training. About 8% drop out of the pre-
university and technical schools. Neverthe-
less, most children are engaged in school
until their later teens. There is no child
labor in Cuba; children cannot work until
they are 17. In Latin America, almost one in
every 10 children works for a living before
age 14.
If a child runs into trouble, it will most
probably come to the attention of an adult
at school or in the community. Minor cases
are managed at the school level. In serious
cases, children will be referred to special
schools by the Commissions for Prevention,
which is organized in every municipality.
Very few children get to this point: only
0.3% of children ages 10 to 16 were in
these schools in 1995. Children less than
16 y ears old are not routed through the
court system.
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