Nineteen years had elapsed since the revolutionary triumph of January 1959, when Pinar del Rio, the former Cinderella of Cuba, saw the birth of a new school.

The Federico Engels Vocational School was a dream of many, but above all things was the dream of Fidel Castro, outlined in Moncada´s Program. Create opportunities to study and develop the intellect of thousands of students, after being instructed, they could contribute to the country project that was in development.

On January 27th, 1978, the leader of the Cuban Revolution came to Pinar del Rio to meet with those young people. After touring the school together with Julio Camacho Aguilera, in that time First Secretary of the Communist Party in the province, Fidel talked with the young students.

“I really liked what you said at the beginning, that you were a Marxist-Leninist forge, a Jose Marti´s forge, forgers of future Communists. When I heard that, I said that myself: that’s what we want from this type of school, those are the fruits that we expect from this type of schools, generations of true communists.“

Educational and professional excellence

Training as a bachelor in the Vocational school or Pre-university Institute of Exact Sciences, as it would be called since 1985 to this type of school, is a source of pride for several generations from Pinar del Rio.

With an enrollment of 850 students, the Federico Engels vocational school, is a reference in education matters.

In recent years this center of education highlights because 100% all its students passed the entrance exams to higher education, and all have obtained a university degree, 99% of students, ensuring their first choice.

The students who pass through the classrooms of this school have the privilege of learning, with excellent teachers; the teaching is characterized by a high scientific level and methodological preparation.

Daniela Sarduy Hernández, is in the tenth grade and for a long time was clear about her decision. ” My dream was to study here to have a quality preparation and be able to face better prepared for college.”

40 years ago Professor Raquel Lugo was in the group of initiators of this center. Today, Lugo is the head of the Chair of History of Cuba, and she is also emphatic when says that students are strict and that forces them to prepare better. ”This supposes a sacrifice for the study, of preparation, because our students demand the quality in the teaching that we offer, and that is precisely the class.”

In the vocational school there is a training center for knowledge competitions, promoting mass and giving specialized treatment to students with outstanding academic results.

María Caridad Rivera González, managing director of Engels´ vocational school, does not hide her pride in the results. In 2017, this group won 43 medals in national competitions.

Of all these results, 9 students entered the national preselection, the subject of physics was the one of better results in the country, 12th grade student Lázaro David Paz Hernández, obtained a bronze medal in the International Olympiad of Physiscs, held in Indonesia.

The educational institution continues being strong in scientific research work.

In the current school year, 374 Student Scientific Societies are still functioning, mainly in the area of science, and the students that make up these societies participate in events of other organizations, in which they are also awarded.

Link with the community

One of the lines of work of the school is to achieve the link school, family and community. In this sense, they execute several projects with which they intend to strengthen this interaction.

Bringing the amateurs´ art to the surrounding neighborhoods, is a purpose that is consolidated, because this has always been proposed to be, the most important cultural center of the community.

The blue street, Alameda, with your own hands and Manuel Saumell School-workshop, are some of the programs developed together with the residents, based on integrated work.

The school has been promote neighborhood discussions in different areas of the Popular Council Hermanos Cruz, on topics of social interest such as the fight against addictions, social indisciplines, infectious contagious diseases and violence against women.

The Exact Sciences´ pre-university is characterized by systematic work in the community, together with local organizations.

In September last year the school received the Neighborhood Award, distinction awarded by the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) to personalities, institutions and families that contribute to the unity and formation of values in society.

The Mark of the vocational school in Pinar del Rio society.

In these 40 years, more than 17 thousand 800 students have been graduate, at the Pinar del Rio´s vocational school, under the precept of Fidel Castro, that the future of our nation will necessary be a future of men of science.

From the classrooms of the vocational school have left young graduates who became professionals of the most diverse specialties and contribute mostly to the development of the country.

From the vocational school, many young people have been graduate in these classrooms, who became professionals of the most diverse specialties and contribute mostly to the development of the country.

Ray Michel García Torrens, eleventh grader, is clear when he says: “Our Commander in Chief created these schools to train good men, that’s why it was always a dream for me to be here.”

Professor Evidia Abascar Monterrey, founder of the center does not hide her emotion, when she says that the initiators have complied with the request made by the leader of the Cuban Revolution.

We have maintained from the beginning the legacy and slogan that Fidel Castro left us and asked to continue, to keep the flags high in this type of school.

Forty years later, the Vocational Federico Engels from Pinar del Río is also structurally renewed. The remodeling of the dormitory block, the waterproofing of the ceilings have been completed the repair and at this moment an emblematic site of the school, the cinema, is being completed.

The footprint of this school in the generations of Pinar del Río, is obvious. Its mission is essential to train men and women with a high scientific vocation, capable of contributing to the future of the country.