Maximum priority: solving social problems

BY RAISA PAGES (Granma International staff writer)

PRESIDENT Fidel Castro affirmed that Cuba currently holds first place in the solution of social problems and is advancing at great speed, although he acknowledged that "we are far from feeling satisfied with the labors undertaken."

Fidel inaugurated the Dora Alonso Special School for Autistic Children in the Liberty City educational complex, which up until 1959 was the location of the Batista dictatorship’s largest military base.

Specialized treatment for autistic children is very costly in the developed world, reaching totals of $7,000, $8000 or $10,000 USD per month for certain pupils suffering from this disorder.

In Cuba, 180 persons have been diagnosed as autistic, of them 166 under 18 years of age and 14 of them over 19, all of whom receive free medical attention.

Fidel recalled that a special education improvement plan was launched in the 1977-78 school year, and that stage saw the development of special teaching aids like the Medicic, the video-voice, the Neurónica and, more recently, the Audic.

The island was selected as a Latin American reference center for special education in 1990. Cuban special education is structured into a system of 429 schools, 13 day-care centers, 42 special classrooms, 23 hospital classrooms, 664 classrooms in elementary schools, 15 mixed day-care centers and 32 homes for orphaned children, while 1,223 pupils receive classes at home.

Some 55,000 children with various disabilities are enrolled in Cuba’s special education system, attended by 21,019 educational workers, of which 14,400 are trained teachers, with a high female participation.

The Cuban president stated that the global total of persons with disabilities is estimated at close to 600 million, of whom less than 3% receive some kind of attention.

"In our country," he noted, "we have fought for and, fortunately, succeeded in providing attention for all children with problems." He added that those unable to attend school are taught in their homes, which is parallel to saying that there are schools in rural areas that have a university-trained specialist, a television, a computer and two solar panels at the service of one child’s education.

He detailed the informatics programs being used in special schools and their positive effects on learning. In the initial 67 schools equipped with 312 computers, there are children who are blind, deaf and physically disabled, as well as those who have behavioral problems. With the installation of a further 851 computers, the entire system will be covered.

Fidel argued that attention for children with disabilities is more wide-reaching. Social workers are being utilized in schools for children with behavioral problems to analyze their pupils’ social conditions, which can contribute to overcoming their learning difficulties.

He spoke of the research program on the causes of this kind of disability, given that one aspect is of a genetic nature and could be forestalled with further research and detection. Retardation can also result from certain procedures during birth. He pointed out that many children could be saved from those disorders if the causes are closely studied.

Fidel announced the strengthening of a specialized genetics program and the development of a state-of-the-art laboratory in this specialty. Advances are being made in the study of more than 80 genetic diseases, in order to confront them, diagnose them and seek ways of breaking the chain of some of those inherited disorders.

He affirmed that 505,000 family units in the capital were visited last summer by social workers and students from the Federation of University Students’ Social Work Brigades.

Their study revealed that there are 48,000 persons in Havana who could be suffering from some kind of disability or incapacity, and affirmed that the state and the Revolution should take care of all of those 48,000 inhabitants, and research the causes, which would serve to understand, solve and avoid problems.

That survey also revealed the existence of 32,000 persons over age 60 who are living alone. All those persons with difficulties are visited by family doctors.

Fidel predicted that with all the social programs being developed by the Revolution in the field of special education, Cuba could become a reference center for the world, as well as in many other spheres.