A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.

The [Cuban] education system made a great effort this year to offer senior high school students the proper preparation for a successful completion of the learning objectives for that level.

Quite frequently, it has been stressed that parents need to supervise the education of their children. This is, at the end of the day, one of the things on which their future will largely depend.

Education and values ​​promote and build knowledge and this is what allows to combat reprehensible acts such as fraud, for example, because unfortunately there will always be those who will seek -through trickery- to steal the efforts of others.

Fraud, supported by last minute preparation, has much to do with lying, but mostly with self-deception. Once the easy way is discovered, the terrible damage it causes is ignored.

The cheaters usually tend to think they are very smart, when in fact they are very foolish and ignore they can buy a test, but they cannot buy knowledge. Or that the truly important grade is the one given by ethics in life.

In that sense, something sinister happens when unscrupulous people - disregarding ethical principles- decide to steal a test for profit, as unfortunately happened with the Mathematics Test applied in the nation's capital to eleventh grade students. This was detected by officials from the Ministry of Education. The test was canceled and will be repeated next July 1st.

In the investigation process it was learned that two teachers of the Instituto Preuniversitario [Senior High School] in Arroyo Naranjo, and a worker in a printing shop in Cerro were responsible for these actions. They were charged and detained by the police. The results of the investigations will be published at the conclusion of the inquest.

The fact cannot be seen as a minor incident and it is paramount to analyze in depth its causes.

Again there is failure in the monitoring and control process to prevent that a worker who is entrusted with the processing of a test may take a copy and use it for illegal businesses.

No less troubling is the fact that some parents - in their eagerness to get at all costs the best grades for their children- have fallen into the trap and paid for that fraud, as if knowledge were a commodity. Worst of all was the fact that some began to resale the stolen test and spread the cheating to several municipalities in the capital.

Being informed about the facts by the Ministry of Education, many parents were furious, and expressed such fraudulent and illicit actions must not be allowed. They also demanded exemplary action against the culprits. 

It is also a fact that some parents, also enraged, have complained because now all students must take the test again. These parents need to understand that once a violation like this occurs, the test loses all validity.

It is unfortunate that their kids need to be subject to the stress generated by another test, but the lesson to learn is that in the end dedication and effort devoted to studying will pay off and honesty is much more valuable than money.

It is also necessary to stress that despite of what happened, the great majority of teachers have strong principles and deserve respect. Education is all about values, and these are not only learned at school.  

In a speech about education, Fidel pointed out the need to consider the full magnitude and implications for a young person of a fraudulent attitude.

About this he said, For example, think of a medical student who cheats and then has to provide health care to citizens in a hospital. Of course, it is almost certain that a student who begins cheating in his first year, or in his second year, does not graduate. This is almost sure. But a doctor who cheated in an important subject, or any subject; who does not really know the subject and later has in his hands the life of a child, or a mother, or an adult, or an elderly person; then that is the moment when he needs what he did not study.

The only thing fraud and last minute studying create are inept persons.