Human Rights: The Best Evidence

Lauris María Henríquez

escambray today, human rights, cuba, education, children, school
The right to education is a reality for any Cuban everywhere in the island. (Photo: Vicente Brito / Escambray)

You wake up. You wear your uniform from Monday to Friday. You take your books and your snack, and then your mother goes with you to school. On the way, your  little brother is taken to where he plays with other children. No matter if there are no toys, the pedagogical assistants will make them with the products they have at hand. Your parents were not asked about their social origin or their income. You are a child, and that was enough.


Cuba: Where Real Human Rights are the Foundation of Society


As usual, you remember that today the teacher will ask about the day’s historical anniversaries, because it’s important to know about the history of the nation. Once you arrive at your school, no matter where, you feel welcomed. 

Like others, you learn how the world is made up, about the living creatures that exist, about the rights and duties you have. Although you do not have a computer at home, you and your classmates are provided with one that is shared during the classes in the laboratory.  With the teacher you learned how to make calculations, how to write on a Word document, how to visit virtual museums. You can recite poems, sing songs and dance at the school’s activities, and you can also do poetry and drawings for contest participation.

You know that you will continue to learn, and that such endeavor will also depend on your own effort. Either of the uniforms you will wear someday —the yellow, the blue, or the brown one— will make you feel excited because they will proof that you are growing up. And you will forever remember that moment in which the blue scarf was first placed around your neck.

If you decide to move on and become a professional, if you persevere in this effort, your feet will take you to the university after passing the entrance examinations. And there, in your other house, besides studying, you can also choose to participate in a baseball game, and three hours later prepare a presentation for a scientific forum.

It may be that you haven’t thought carefully why all these will happen in your life. It’s understandable, because you’re just a child. But there is an answer indeed: education is a human right. On December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and although many people do not perceive it because it is an everyday occurrence in Cuba, there’s no way to deny it.


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