Cuba has highest teacher ratio

President Fidel Castro has highlighted the virtues of the 
education system in Cuba, the nation with the highest ratio of 
teachers per capita in the world: one for every 36.8 
inhabitants.

Invited onto television program Roundtable last week, the 
Cuban President highlighted the advantages of the Cuban 
educational system, which is completely free, and the use of 
audiovisual and computer programs at the various levels of 
teaching.

"Knowledge does not take up any space", he commented, an allusion 
to the educational possibilities that the Revolution guarantees 
to Cuban children and youth in comparison with other nations.

He pointed out that capitalism cannot do what Cuba is doing 
because as a system it is not designed to bring education to the 
majority. "What sentiments can a savage, egotistic society 
poisoned by all means possible have?", he asked.

Fidel described the 2004-05 school year, inaugurated last week in 
the capital Havana and attended by more than 2.8 million Cubans 
of all ages, as a new stage.

The start of the new school year just three weeks after Hurricane 
Charley hit the west of the island was likewise qualified as a 
feat by the Cuban President.

The cyclone seriously affected the Havana provinces and Pinar del 
Rmo on August 13, leaving four dead and losses of more than one 
billion dollars.

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Granma