The Ramón Téllez Peña special school does not experience the current shortages that the population of Las Tunas suffers, except for the limitations to update its technology, victim of the aggressiveness of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade of the United States towards Cuba.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- This center, a majestic building founded 21 years ago, welcomes children with visual and hearing disabilities from all the province municipalities, with a current enrollment of 103 students and a staff that exceeds 130 workers, including teaching staff, specialists, and service personnel.
"It is unique because, in addition to attending to the different conditions that the children have, it stands out for the treatment and conditions that we have in the institution, especially in food and transportation," Malena Martínez, a member of its board of directors, told the Cuban News Agency.
"We are an example of attention to the vulnerable, thanks to the sponsorship that the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Frutas Selectas, and Acopio give us, in terms of food," said the teacher.
"Sometimes we have given up to seven plates," she added, although we are not sitting on our hands either, because we have self-consumption that we defend a lot, so as not to depend only on what the organizations provide us.
"And the buses that transport the children who go on a trip to their respective municipalities never fail every 11 days. For them, fuel is guaranteed," explained Ms. Martínez.
At her side, young Yuslennis Vázquez, who recently joined the teaching staff, said: "In the short time I've been here, I've seen the level of sensitivity of my colleagues to treat children."
Every three months, students are tested to determine the status of their illnesses. They are helped by a visual stimulation room and a speech therapy room, where lip-reading is developed. If their illnesses progress favorably, they can move on to primary or secondary school.
Educational inclusion works efficiently in the center, mainly in the municipalities. When parents are not interested in students attending this special school, they are followed up and attended to wherever they are enrolled, with health specialists, sign language interpreters, and teachers who travel to those places.
The "Ramón Téllez Peña" could be a center that is a victim of the country's shortages, but the dedication of its workers to caring for the little ones and the priority given by institutions in Las Tunas make it a happy, hopeful, and invulnerable group.
