With the presence of José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Party Central Committee and a vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers; Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, first vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers; and Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power, the 14th International Pedagogy Congress 2015 was inaugurated on January 26, in Havana.
Ena Elsa Velásquez Cobiellas, minister of Education, gave the conference “Education: challenges and political will.” Teachers, professors, art instructors, students from eight music, visual arts, theatre and dance schools and various community projects participated in the cultural gala attended by 500 pupils from general and arts education.
In her inaugural speech, the minister emphasized the role of educators in the struggle for human and cultural improvement, in a world where among other negative practices, acts of aggression, “unconventional warfare,” destabilization attempts and domestic violence proliferate. “Therefore, every school in our country must be a breeding ground for ideas about kindness, pace, cultural identity and solidarity,” she stated.
