"If it is a question of soldiers to defend the country, it is all the people, I cannot make the comparison; but if it is a question of teachers to preach the noblest ideas and the most revolutionary ideas, I also say that we have all the people as teachers".
That humanist vocation par excellence, of Fidel, is the essence of an event that began in 1986 and that arrives today before a challenging world, more and more unequal, and in which the knowledge is the pitchfork to free oneself from the yoke, more and more oppressive.
Because ignorance kills, as do bombs, it is that, despite the difficult times and the hostility of those who know that knowledge is the defense of the dignity of the human being, Cuba is a teacher. That is the reason for the International Congress of Pedagogy. Today, when it celebrates its 16th edition, it is as or more vital than that first time, to save us all.
It is a platform for dialogue among specialists who contribute to promote quality education, a space for educators, researchers and teachers to discuss the challenges of today's world such as social and economic constraints, inequality in education, poverty and access to knowledge.
This is an event that is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and, precisely the fourth, establishes the importance of ensuring inclusive, equitable and quality education, and promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all.
That is why, in the words of Naima Trujillo Barreto, Cuba's Minister of Education, at the opening ceremony of Pedagogy-2025, "we need students to attend schools to understand the world, to position themselves as good citizens. We need them to interpret their time and destiny, but from their own aspirations, and to be able to understand history.
"Learning is a human process and nothing can replace its presence in the aspects of interaction, educational guidance, individualized attention," she said at the opening of the conclave, which was attended by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and members of the Political Bureau, Manuel Marrero Cruz, prime minister, and Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, secretary general of the Workers’ Central Union of Cuba.
As one of the objectives of these events is to find solutions to face current challenges and better understand them, through the exchange of experiences and knowledge, Pedagogy-2025 has as its maxim the unity of educators, and brings together a hundred delegates from Cuba and 32 countries.
