Part of the government’s success is credited to the use of a
Cuban pioneered adult education methodology making extensive use of audio-visual
techniques and called ‘Yes I can’. Like other socialist governments and
socialist states, Cuba made the campaign to eradicate illiteracy and to raise
educational standards an absolute priority. As Theodore
MacDonald’s comprehensive study of Cuba’s education system has shown the revolutionary
government immediately recognised that literacy is critical to waging the battle
of ideas and devote huge economic and human resources into its literacy
campaign. In 1961, just two years after the revolutionary government took
power, UNESCO declared Cuba illiteracy free and it continues to recognise and
promote the huge educational achievements of Cuban socialism in comparison with
the rest of Latin America.
Now Cuba exports not just doctors to developing states but
also adult education and the ‘Yes I can’ method. Quite a contrast to Britain
and the US, where big education businesses export commodified access to
educational materials and for-profit provision, and where universities trade
their ‘brands’ for fees in the international student markets. Cuba’s educators
have helped to raise educational standards and empower the people of Cuba,
Venezuela and Bolivia. They are even to be found working with the indigenous
communities of Australia. That’s truly revolutionary international education.
