The 2014-2015 academic year began in Cuba September 1, with 1.8 million students entering primary and secondary schools, along with more than 100,000 young people pursuing university studies.

Cuban Vice President Díaz-Canel joined the traditional climbing of the University of Havana’s grand stairway by students entering this institution of higher learning. Photo: Anabel Díaz.

Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel, participated in opening ceremonies at Hugo Chávez Elementary, in the Havana municipality of Boyeros, commenting that recent graduates of Pedagogical High Schools will play an important role in schools this year, as emergent teachers committed to the profession and its values.

Díaz-Canel also joined the traditional climbing of the University of Havana’s grand stairway by students entering this institution of higher learning, with Rodolfo Alarcón, minister of Higher Education, and Gustavo Cobreiro, rector of the university, in attendance as well.

Mártires de La Coubre Elementary, in the San José de las Lajas neighborgood of Ganuza, Mayabeque province. Photo: Ismael Francisco/ Cubadebate.

The 14 de Junio Special Education School in Guantánamo celebrated its official inauguration on the first day of school. The highly qualified faculty will serve students here who are blind, deaf, strabismic, amblyopic, or otherwise visually or hearing-impaired.

Likewise, Medial Sciences Universities in Santiago de Cuba, Granma and Matanzas, also welcomed students undertaking technical and professional studies.