HAVANA, November 26 (Juan Carlos Linares / CubaNet) High school students,
called "becados" here, have in recent months been obligated to watch
the nightly broadcasts of the National TV News. The measure was imposed by the
Ministry of Education in support of the so-called "Battle of Ideas," a
politically-oriented propaganda campaign that the government started at the time
of the Elián González incident.
"They moved the supper schedule up so that by eight p.m., when the
broadcasts start, we would all be at our appointed places in front of the TV
set," said one "becado" in Havana province.
The word "becado" means literally scholarship student. It makes
little sense in the Cuban educational system, where the only schools allowed are
government run and where the government claims all education is free. "Becado"
is used to describe the older high school students, who must attend live-in
schools in the countryside, where they learn and work, usually in agriculture,
all week.
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