Surprisingly enough, education in Cuba is rather strong when compared to other areas of Cuban policy. For years now the education system in Cuba has been called one of the best in the world. This is largely due to the fact that Cuba spends about ten percent of its budget on education compared with 4 percent in the UK and just 2 percent in the United States. Cuba also claims that it has a 100 percent literacy rate among its citizens. The single most important reason as to why Cuba’s educational system is so renowned is due to the fact that education is free to any student at any level not matter where you live or who you are. Other important factors that contribute to the system’s success are that class sizes cannot exceed 25 students, schools are open 12 hours per day, mobile teachers are sent to homes if students are unable to attend school, and over 50 percent of Cuba’s teachers have at least a master’s degree. When Fidel Castro took over the country in 1959 approximately 82% of the country was either illiterate or semi-illiterate. One of his goals was to change this. In 1960, he opened over 800 literacy centers throughout Cuba. By 2000 approximately 97% of citizens were literate.
Source: www.cal.org/co/cubans/edu.htm
