HAVANA TIMES – Returning to school in La Guaira, Venezuela, following the two major earthquakes and a vaguely defined vacation period, has been marked by absence, sadness, and desolation. Schools are not and will never be the same. The structural cracks in the buildings that managed to remain standing are impossible to hide, but even more profound are the cracks left in the memories and emotions of those who inhabit and sustain these spaces of civic education.
Until the very last moment, the official list of those who died at each school and high school was kept confidential. As a result, that first day was not simply a return to classes, but the confirmation—silent yet deafening—that numerous members of the educational community (students, parents, teachers, administrative staff, and maintenance workers) were no longer among the living.
Grief that had been suspended in time began to flow, revealing a mourning process that demands opportunities for emotional support and healing. In this context, the act of taking attendance—a fundamental ritual of school culture—ceased to be a mere check of who was present and became the tragic confirmation that several boys and girls, along with their families, were gone forever. Summing up this painful situation, Spanish Language and Literature teacher Madeleine Cova reported, days after the earthquakes, that approximately 200 students had died at the two schools where she teaches.
Another emotionally overwhelming scene unfolded during the school assemblies marking the beginning of the academic year. Teachers, like the children on their first day back, had to confront the empty chairs of members of the educational community who had previously participated in these school management and organizational meetings. Faced with losses of such magnitude, the psychological first aid workshops offered at some institutions are inadequate stopgap measures for processing grief on an enormous and unprecedented scale.
Amid this social and educational emergency, the “spontaneous little schools” that emerged in various parts of La Guaira just days after the earthquakes have become beacons of hope. Urimare is the name of the first of these initiatives, established by retired teacher and cancer patient Jazmín Ramirez, whose example has inspired other educators throughout the region.
With no resources beyond determination, dedication, and a calling to teach, these small grassroots initiatives embody the most humane expression of solidarity and professional ethics in education. At a time of extreme vulnerability, they offer a timely, dignified response filled with living hope.
In this way, because of its community-based, family-oriented, and socially diverse character, the school becomes the clearest reflection of the psychosocial and cultural consequences of the tragedy. At the same time, it represents the most important space for rebuilding emotional bonds and fostering new forms of integration amid these changed circumstances and realities.
Providing comprehensive support to La Guaira’s schools—both established educational institutions and newly created alternative learning spaces—is therefore an urgent priority and the most direct path toward overcoming the socioemotional crisis and rebuilding living conditions for the affected population.
Achieving this goal requires recognizing the commitment and selflessness of teachers who, despite the miserable salaries they receive and despite being victims of the two earthquakes themselves, remain standing and continue giving their very best for our children and adolescents.
A heartfelt round of applause for this legion of heroes and heroines of Venezuelan education!