Santo Domingo.- The Secretary of Public Relations and Communications of the National Executive Committee of the Dominican Association of Teachers (ADP), Menegildo De La Rosa, warned that the current conditions of the national education system do not guarantee a school year start without inconveniences, and denounced serious deficiencies in school infrastructure nationwide.
De La Rosa expressed his concern about the lack of classrooms, the absence of places in educational centers, and the delays in the completion of schools that are 90 and 95 percent renovated. In addition, he criticized that the mobile classrooms promised by the Ministry of Education have not yet been installed in many communities.
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“Ante esta situación, decidimos constatar la realidad a través de un recorrido por todo el país, ya que el año escolar se avecina y desde el Ministerio se asegura que todo se está resolviendo. Hablan de una inversión de más de 12 mil millones de pesos, pero no vemos que se estén creando las condiciones para brindar una educación de calidad”,
manifestó.
Regarding the budget allocated to education, the ADP representative denounced that the emblematic 4% of the GDP approved for the education sector has been mismanaged and, for this year, even reduced to 3.88%. He pointed out that the Ministry of Education’s budget presents a deficit of between 22 billion and 25 billion pesos in relation to what would correspond to it according to that percentage.
“El 4% se ha convertido en una piñata que ha ido a muchas partes, menos a los centros educativos. Y ahora, con la propuesta de fusión del Ministerio de Educación y el Ministerio de Educación Superior (MESCYT), existe el riesgo de que los recursos destinados a la educación preuniversitaria terminen financiando universidades privadas”,
advirtió.
He affirmed that this situation represents a betrayal of the citizen effort that fought to achieve that budget through the national mobilization of the Coalition for a Dignified Education and the yellow umbrellas.
