Distance learning will mark 2021 school year at the University of Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 1 (ACN) The University of Havana (UH) starts today its 2021 school year without the physical presence of students, who received detailed instructions from their schools as to how their courses will be organized. Freshmen in turn will first be on campus on April 19, since their personal attendance is essential both for strictly academic reasons and because their presence in the classroom and their interaction with classmates are a gateway to university life.

However, like in every province, Havana’s epidemiological situation will have the last word, as per Resolution 3/21 of the Minister of Higher Education, which makes the school year contingent on the indications issued by the COVID-19 national task force in coordination with the provincial defense councils. Some institutions could open their new academic year the usual way, but most others were turned into field hospitals or isolation centers. Every educational center will decide whether they will give scheduled onsite lessons or choose home-based distance education.
The present circumstances make it impossible to start school years in unison everywhere, but the important thing is to do as much as possible and do it well; to be clever, creative and responsible, and to advance all processes as much as possible, without detriment to their quality and much less to the health of university students, professors and other workers.