Students in limbo

Caught between failing infrastructure in Cuba and what they described as a wall of diplomatic silence at home, Jamaican medical students are urging the Government to establish a formal bridge to local universities to safeguard their academic futures.

Tightened United States sanctions and the cessation of Venezuelan oil shipments have plunged the Spanish-speaking nation into a deepening crisis, leaving its power grid and essential services close to collapse.

With campuses intermittently closed and utilities unreliable, self-financed Jamaicans studying medicine, dentistry, and nursing say they risk becoming collateral damage in a geopolitical standoff they did not create.

“[I’m] going to bed at around 11 p.m. without light and still waking at 6 a.m. for school without light,” one student in Havana told The Sunday Gleaner of the daily blackouts.

“We go to school from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and if we are lucky, there may be light when we get home for four hours, and we would spend the rest of the day without light. Bear in mind, without electricity there is no Internet signal and the water pumps do not work. We are forced to study under those conditions,” added the student, who requested anonymity, citing fear of “backlash”.

The student reported a “drastic” increase in gas prices, triggering more than a 100 per cent rise in transportation costs and a sharp spike in food prices.

According to the student, many are forced to walk to their schools, supermarkets and other places to save money.

More than 300 Jamaican students are currently enrolled in programmes across Cuba, the majority of whom are self-funded and are growing increasingly anxious. Just over 40 are beneficiaries of the Cuba bilateral Scholarship Programme, established in the 1950s, which covers tuition, accommodation, meals, clothing, study materials and medical care.

Approximately 13 others are enrolled through CubaHeal, an organisation that facilitates medical treatment and education in Cuba.

“They provide us with a place to stay and for the first year, transportation to and from school along with an insurance plan. The overall price going through them was $2 million for the premedical year,” a first-year Jamaican student, who asked not to be identified, told The Sunday Gleaner.

Medical school tuition for six years, excluding premedical year, amounts to US$55,000 or approximately J$8.6 million in Cuba. For years one and two, students pay US$8,500 each, years three and four US$8,000 each, and in years five and six, they fork out US$11,000.

In comparison, Jamaican medical students attending The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, who are sponsored by the Government, pay J$784,901 for tuition per annum. Non-sponsored students pay US$28,000 per annum.

The student said having done the comparison, the choice was clear for her father. But that certainty has been shattered amid mounting external pressure on the Caribbean country.

“I am already scared about the future, staying here for the next four months,” the student said, adding that there remains no clarity on the way forward among fellow students caught between wanting to complete their studies and possibly leaving, amid escalating geopolitical tension.

For one mother who has flown her son back to Jamaica with two years remaining in his programme, obtaining academic records has proven difficult.

Going around in circles

“We’ve not been able to obtain a transcript and we’re basically going around in circles. Today (Thursday), another student went to one of the universities to find out about transcript and the school is basically telling them that a lawyer would have to write to the school to get the transcript. So, we don’t know what to do. We’re kind of in limbo,” said the mother.

“I think Cuba is in a panic and maybe they don’t want to give the students the transcript because that would mean they are going to lose business. What we really need the Government to do is to be prepared in case anything happens by requesting the transcripts,” she said.

“The Government seems to be emphasising more the scholarship students. ... We want to ensure that there is a plan in case things go awry in Cuba. We don’t want the situation that happened in Ukraine to happen to Cuba and then persons have to start all over again,” referring to the 2022 invasion of the European country by Russia, which disrupted studies for some 22 Jamaican medical students who had to flee and return home.

She said no clear plan has been outlined by the Government outside of the creation of a WhatsApp group and the issuing of “blanket statements”.

Some students have described what they perceive as a “two-tier” system, saying the foreign ministry appears to be prioritising government-scholarship students, leaving more than 300 self-funded students feeling disregarded.

A second-year scholarship student in Havana told The Sunday Gleaner that leaving Cuba is not an immediate option.

“Leaving is the

last resort”

“Things haven’t been fine but because we’ve persevered for so long here, leaving is the last resort. We want solutions while we’re here in Cuba. Things that the embassy can put in place to make us comfortable because things have dramatically changed.

“The cost of transportation has gone up significantly. Let’s say in Jamaica from Half Way Tree to New Kingston, if it was $200, it’s now $1,000. So we want solutions while being here until things go back to a sense of normalcy,” the student said.

The student suggested that support could include money and non-perishable food items, noting that scholarship recipients receive US$1,500 twice per academic year.

“Other embassies have raised stipends or have given additional stipends for the situation that’s going on now. Things are a lot more expensive. So, for the scholarship students, at least our stipend would have been appropriate for what was going on before. So we would have budgeted for what was going on before, but things are completely different and prices are completely different. So more money is needed. I know other governments have given their students non-perishable food just in the event that power goes out,” the student said.

The student said the Jamaican Embassy in Havana has indicated that if “things go south”, scholarship students will be housed at the embassy.

Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith, speaking at last Wednesday’s post-Cabinet briefing, said that “the prevailing intent and the drive among the majority of the student body at this time is for their continuation of studies”.

She said the ministry has been reviewing daily updates from the embassy in Havana and that a WhatsApp group has been created with more than 300 students for direct and ongoing contact.

She said generally, while the ministry is always aware of the scholarship students, “private students” who travel to Cuba do not often engage or register with the ministry.

The foreign minister pointed to February 5 developments in which the Cuban Government offered a conditional dialogue with the US amid a severe energy crisis and a quarantine of the island’s oil supplies.

She said the embassy contacted students and encouraged them to consult with their academic institutions on how their programme might be affected by the disruptions, and in the event of sudden interruption.

“Further, we encouraged them and we continue to encourage them to consult with their parents or guardians on the options available for them at this time and going forward, and also for them to make preparations for emergency circumstances, should that be required. For emergency departure, should that be required,” Johnson Smith said.

She also indicated that diplomatic notes had been dispatched to the foreign ministry in Cuba, to get guidance on how best students could be facilitated in the circumstances.

She said this included whether transcripts will be made available by way of policy and to students who seek to continue their studies elsewhere, if occasioned by the disruptions in availability of classes.

Waiting on both sides

“An official response is pending. We are waiting on both sides, but an informal response has suggested that direct engagement with institutions is what is required for access to transcripts,” she said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to Sunday Gleaner questions sent last Friday.

Last week, the Government of St Lucia indicated that plans are in place for the immediate evacuation of its students in Cuba, should conditions worsen.

The country’s minister of education, Kenson Casimir, told a press briefing that several meetings were held with Cuban authorities and The UWI to facilitate a seamless transition and ensure academic continuity for students.

“We have garnered all the information on the 57 students that are currently in Cuba at the end of first year, at the end of fifth year where they are and the planning that we have done includes those individuals who have finished with their coursework and their clinical and the possibility of bringing them into various institutions to get their clinical done – all of that. We’ve been ahead of getting those things done more than a month now,” he said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com