DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic’s flagship literacy initiative, the Permanent Literacy Service (SEPA), is facing heavy criticism after an investigation revealed a surging payroll and minimal results, fueling concerns that a key educational program has devolved into a mechanism for political patronage, Noticias SIN on Channel 9 reports.

Investigative journalist Alicia Ortega is looking into the millions that seem to be wasted on wages with little to show.

Despite a massive monthly budget expenditure exceeding RD$111 million and total spending over RD$4.2 billion between 2023 and 2024, the program, run by the Ministry of Education, managed to teach just 4,742 people to read and write in that same period.

The SEPA program was relaunched in January 2024 to tackle the nation’s 6.5% illiteracy rate. However, results have stalled, with the illiteracy rate stubbornly holding...