# Dulce María Escalona Almeida

**Date of birth:** August 15, 1901

**Date of death:** February 22, 1976

**Categories:** Society, professor

Prestigious revolutionary pedagogue who dedicated her life to the cause of education for the Cuban people. A relevant educator within the pedagogical avant-garde of the 20th Century. She was one of the most talented women with dedication to the study of educational and social problems in the last 50 years of the country. Contemporary of Enrique José Varona; Alfredo M. Aguayo and Manuel Valdés Rodríguez, among others, she knew how to assume, as they did, the best of Cuban pedagogy, bequeathed by the founders of the previous century: Félix Varela, José de la Luz y Caballero, José Martí.

Dulce María Escalona was born in Holguín. Obviously her life unfolded immersed in processes of revolutionary upheaval, of which she was both witness and protagonist. Early on she had to help raise ten male siblings, as she was the firstborn and only female; her mother, Juana, was widowed and Dulce María assumed that responsibility. Her father, Manuel, of mambí lineage left deep marks on her of love for the homeland.

Nevertheless, her drive for self-improvement led her to study teaching at La Escuela Normal para Maestros de Santiago de Cuba and in 1921, she graduates; simultaneously she also graduates with a Bachelor's degree in Sciences and Letters. In 1924 she graduates as a Doctor of Pedagogy from the University of La Habana. She joins the Left Wing of the Student Directory and as a member of the University Pedagogical Association, participates in the I Congress of Students.

She meets Julio Antonio Mella and collaborates as a Mathematics Professor at the Popular University "José Martí". She resided in Santiago de Cuba and had begun her teaching work in a small rural school; later she worked in a private one. In 1926, she obtains through competitive examination, as an Internal candidate, the Chair of Academy of Sciences of Cuba at la Escuela Normal para Maestros de Oriente de La Habana. It included: Physics, Chemistry and Natural History. In 1928, she assumes it as Titular.

She is dismissed in 1930 for signing the student proclamation against Gerardo Machado and imprisoned in 1931. Nevertheless, in "periods of truce" she founds along with Bernal del Riesgo, the "Association of Friends of the New School" and together with Alfredo M. Aguayo, the "Pedagogical Academy, to maintain the professional development of teachers.

In 1934 she is appointed Director of the Industrial Technical School (for females) of the Rosalía Abreu Foundation and served as a Mathematics Professor. This was an interesting pedagogical experience, worthy of being researched. In this center she is detained in 1935 for refusing to sign the Declaration that condemned the general strike and is taken to the Women's Prison of Guanabacoa.

In 1937, she returns to the ENM of La Habana as Titular Professor of Mathematics, until 1958. Between 1948-1950, she was its Director.

Political-administrative corruption increases in the country and penetrates this Educational Center; sufficient reason to decide to submit her request for retirement in 1958. Since 1939, she had graduated as a Doctor in Physical-Mathematical Sciences.

In 1959 the Revolution triumphs and with it resurge the ideals for which she had fought so hard and as she herself said: "….when the homeland makes its claim, there is no response other than struggle:" Immediately incorporated into the new tasks, she is part of the Purification Commission of the Ministry of Education and shortly after assumes the Provincial Directorship of Education of La Habana. From there: - She organizes the Municipal Directorates - She directs the organization of competitions to cover 10,000 new primary school classrooms. - She prepares the Document that provides the foundation for the creation of the National Literacy Commission. - She participates directly in the methodological preparation of the first volunteer teachers. - She elaborates the plan that would convert the Upper Primary Schools (7th-8th-9th). - Preparation of Study Plans, programs, texts, teacher preparation, habilitation of workshops, laboratories, teaching materials. In 1960, she occupies the Technical Directorship of Secondary Education and this meant undertaking multiple unprecedented tasks until then.

In 1962, as Director of the School of Education of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of La Habana, she presents a paper: "Outline of Reform of the School of Education". In it, she proposes far-reaching objectives, such as the founding of Research Institutes and the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences. In it, specialists would be trained in History and Theory of Education, with a didactic-materialist vision of its development; researchers and innovators in the field of special methodologies, experts in educational planning, etc. and suggests dedicating the year 1963 to the preparation of the essential didactic cadres for raising the level of pedagogical studies. From this paper, a more immediately viable project emerges: the Pedagogical Institutes and in 1964 are founded: "Enrique José Varona (C.Habana); "Félix Varela" (Santa Clara) and "Frank País" (Santiago de Cuba). Primary objective: to train teachers for Secondary Education.

There were no precedents in Cuba and much less about the Unified Schools (from preschool to 9th grade) which she also organized, as annexes to these Institutes. She was the founding Director of Varona, at 63 years of age and it can be affirmed that it was her great educational work, since the full dedication of scientific-pedagogical rigor, the genuine passion of an educator and the revolutionary spirit and action that she put into it, was not in vain.

We all know about the contribution these centers have made to the educational and cultural development of the country in more than 40 years. In 1967, her health begins to fail and in 1969, she is designated General Advisor, upon requesting to be relieved as Director.

For those who did not know her, a question arises: "What was Dulce María Escalona like?". Dr. Carlos M. Valdés Gárciga describes her to us this way: "……a person who, without being tall….her mere presence inspired respect. Her bearing was distinguished, without being haughty; her gaze, deep and firm. Deliberate in her walk and of easy and elegant speech, expression of a deep thought, never superficial". "With her severe but not stern face and disposed equally to a friendly smile as to a dominant or threatening gesture, as circumstances required, she impressed from the first personal contact". As an educator she possessed valuable qualities, and among the most significant we will cite the following: - Social and political conduct consistent with her revolutionary convictions. - Honesty and justice: primary values. - Demanding, persevering, disciplined, organized and a good organizer. - Simplicity, cleanliness, modesty. - Example of formal education. - Human sensitivity, without shrillness. Pleasure, love, for teaching, for her students. - Tireless attitude toward self-improvement, and that of her students and collaborators. Furthermore, it is worth noting a very significant characteristic: she abhorred flattery and submission; she enjoyed well-substantiated controversy in reasoning.

Her pedagogical legacy was not precisely written, that is, in black and white; but it remained in works that we touch today and most importantly, she left it indelibly imprinted on good men and women, who received her educational influence, not only directly, within the narrow framework of a classroom, but indirectly, as collaborators, as leaders, as colleagues. Nevertheless, it is important to highlight her research on the teaching of Arithmetic Methodology in Primary School (1937-1951) with scientific-pedagogical-psychological rigor worthy of note. The research not only covered the methodological part, it included the preparation of texts (preschool to 6th grade) that included everything from their size to the number of words on each page and the placement and quality of illustrations.

She also attended to the preparation of teaching materials and the methodological guidelines that teachers should analyze. She insisted on the need to teach children to think and this is only achieved by making them think; the understanding of the meaning of the operation should connect to its symbolic representation; the same in relation to calculation practice.

She always advocated for the connection between instruction-education; study-work; for the development of creative capacity, as well as conscious discipline; she was a champion of the polytechnization of teaching, as well as the comprehensive formation of students, of which she herself was an example. When today we speak of changes in Basic Secondary; of the role that the Pedagogical Institutes are playing in the municipalization of the University; or we refer with pride to Educational T.V. or the Unified schools that still exist, the vast majority, including teachers, do not know the name of the person who played a very important role in the origin of these plans, just barely forty years ago. It is for these and many other reasons, which space prevents us from explaining, that we must consider Dr. Dulce María Escalona Almeida as one of the relevant educators within the pedagogical avant-garde of the 20th century.

In an album of graduates of la Escuela Normal para Maestros de La Habana from 1945, she left this message, which is fully valid: "……The teacher must prepare himself to bring to the classroom the example of a dignified life, the contribution of preparation purified by relentless effort and faith in a better tomorrow".

In 1972 she received the title of Emeritus Professor from the University of La Habana.

She passed away on February 22, 1976 in Ciudad de La Habana and at her farewell, Dr. Armando Hart said, among other things: "……Dulce María Escalona was one of the most talented women with dedication to the study of educational and social problems in the last 50 years in Cuba. Throughout all her activity, the ideals of better education were closely woven in her sentiment with the ideals of the left and anti-imperialist". "……..Dulce María Escalona was that type of teacher who can serve us as a model of school director: a respected and beloved teacher; of firmness and strength, but at the same time, with infinite love for her students.".

Student Residence (Castillito)
This was Batista's private residence within the Columbia camp. He also had a recreation estate in Kukine, near El Guatao, where there is now a Technological Institute. This house is a mixture of castle, barracks and house, a feudal, dictatorial and bourgeois reminiscence of its last occupant.

From this house Batista fled on January 1, 1959 when the Rebel Army had already won the war following victories in Villa Clara and Yaguajay by Commanders Camilo Cienfuegos and Ernesto Che Guevara.

After the barracks became a school, the General Directorate of the Literacy Campaign functioned here; later, the National Directorate of Scholarships was based in it, and afterward, it became a library of the Higher Pedagogical Institute "Enrique José Varona" until it became what it is today: its Student Residence.

Here is found the Chair of Dr. Escalona. In this place tribute is paid to Dr. Dulce María Escalona Almeida (Provincial Library of Holguín, 1901-1976), distinguished revolutionary pedagogue, who dedicated her life to the cause of education for the people. Founder of the Enrique José Varona Pedagogical Institute, she devoted all her energy and intelligence to the development and consolidation of this institution.

In this small room, where she had her last work location, documents and projects are preserved with which she was working, virtually, at the moment of her death, on February 22, 1976. This is a place of obligatory visit for the new generations of students of ISP Varona, who did not have the historical privilege of knowing this exceptional woman.