KINGSTON, JAMAICA, January 14, 2017.The date January 10th, 1977 was engraved in the memory of 560 Jamaican young students who were selected from different regions of the country to attend the Jose Marti Secondary School donated by Cuba and its Leader to the Jamaican people, in a time when the friendship between Fidel Castro and Michael Manley was translated into different social projects like this school.
Time passed and what started as a solidarity and cooperation gesture of Cuba to the Government and people of Jamaica was transformed into what is today, the Jose Marti Technical High School that proudly celebrates its 40th anniversary, with an enrolment of near 2000 students in the secondary education with specialization in technical areas.
Under the motto that has identified the school: “working and studying to be the total man”, seen as a Marti´s principle applied to the institution since its foundation, it was held a heartfelt ceremony at the Pegasus Hotel presided over by former Prime Minister Percival James Patterson, the Cuban Ambassador, Bernardo Guanche Hernandez, and the Principal of the school, Dr. Austin Wright.
Former and present executives and professor at the school were also in attendance as well as officials from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, members of the Parents and Teachers Association of Jamaica and Past Students, representatives from the media among others.
The occasion served as opportunity to acknowledge the life and work of the Apostle of the Cuban Independence as well as to ratified the gratitude of an institution that is a flagship within the public educational system of Jamaica and people in general to Fidel Castro, who was also paid a tribute following his demise and who was named as the “achiever of Marti´s dreams”.
Former Prime Minister Patterson related the circumstances under which the project was funded, the selection of the place carried out by Commander in Chief Fidel, the results achieved during these 40 years of sacrifice and the impressions during his attendance to the mass rally to tribute Fidel celebrated in Santiago de Cuba last December 3, 2017.
During the ceremony the attendees remembered anecdotes and graduated students with outstanding position in the society were awarded, as well as decorated teachers. The Cuban Government was awarded a special plate for the invaluable gift to the Jamaican people. Ambassador Guanche Hernandez thanked for such a gesture as well as for the different expressions of sympathies received by the Embassy during the National Mourning for the loss of Fidel.
The night was sealed as a special occasion during which the tears, pictures and memories of the founders and graduated Jamaicans was mixed with the joy of present executives, professors, for the success achieved during four decades.