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🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia /Culture & Society

Cuba's Energy Crisis Plunges Students into Educational Darkness

From Asharq Al-Awsat · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Cuban architecture student Alejandro Benitez struggles with frequent power outages, sometimes lasting up to 15 hours, forcing him to work at night.
  • The energy crisis, exacerbated by a US fuel blockade, has led the government to move university classes online, posing challenges for students due to unreliable internet and power.
  • Students like Benitez and Shalia Garcia face difficulties with distance learning, including limited internet capacity, delayed teacher responses, and the need to be self-starters in a system lacking direct interaction.

In Havana, the daily reality for students like Alejandro Benitez is a relentless battle against the clock, dictated by the capricious rhythm of Cuba's deepening energy crisis. The return of electricity after a grueling 15-hour blackout is not a cause for relief, but a frantic signal to race against time to submit assignments before the lights inevitably flicker out again. This is the stark reality shaped by a US fuel blockade, a pressure tactic that Havana fears is a prelude to military intervention, plunging the nation into prolonged darkness.

Having direct contact with the teacher is really important.

· Alejandro BenitezExplaining the difficulties of online learning due to power outages.

The government's shift to online university classes, a measure to conserve precious electricity, has ironically created new hurdles. For students in fields like architecture, where direct instructor feedback is crucial, the patchy internet and dwindling power supplies render remote learning a frustrating exercise. Benitez, a fourth-year student, finds himself relying on messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram to ask questions, a far cry from the direct engagement essential for his studies. The situation is compounded by the scarcity of fuel, with reports of only one oil tanker docking in the last four months and the government admitting to a shortage of diesel and fuel oil for generators.

This type of teaching puts the onus on the student, which I find hard to manage.

· Shalia GarciaDescribing the challenges of self-directed learning in the current educational environment.

This crisis extends beyond academics, crippling public transport and isolating students like Benitez, who hasn't left his neighborhood since February. The narrative of resilience is strong in Cuba, but the current circumstances test even the most determined. As Alfredo Rodriguez, an industrial design professor and Benitez's partner, points out, entire sections of the syllabus are being missed by students lacking consistent access to education. Teachers are forced to extend deadlines, acknowledging the insurmountable challenges faced by their students. This situation underscores a critical divergence in how this crisis is perceived: while international coverage might focus on the geopolitical implications, for Cubans, it's a daily struggle for basic necessities and the right to education, a fight that profoundly shapes their present and future.

We cannot make the same demands when we know that some students have no electricity or internet connection.

· Alfredo RodriguezExplaining why he has to extend deadlines for his students.
About this summary

Originally published by Asharq Al-Awsat in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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