QUESTION REGARDING SCHOOLING IN THE DR

[potus]

Good day to All,


I have two school age children and so far the Government has not mentioned anything regarding the current school year. It appears as if this country just gave up on the idea of schooling.

Earlier in the “Covid Crisis” there was talk about internet based remote learning and we all had to buy printers and supposedly hand in the work completed by the kids. However as you probably know or can guess, that Program collapsed after just a very short time.

My question is to anyone that is in the Dominican Republic in the same situation: What, if anything are you doing to educate your kids?

Please kindly let me know.



Thank you very much.

 

[bob saunders]

The government has deferred the decision to the new government coming in. The new mister of Education has experience in Education. I suspect that it will announce a combination of online learning for high school and in class with many restrictions for elementary level. Due to the requirement for social distancing they will have to cancel the full day classes and revert to shifts. Huge challenges as many schools do not have adequate facilities. I believe with covid still on the increase any in school classes will be in areas with very low covid, or delayed until the virus infection rates are lower. Like everyone else in the country I think we won't know until several weeks into the new government their plan. Be prepared to be flexible.

 

[josh2203]

I have two school age children and so far the Government has not mentioned anything regarding the current school year. It appears as if this country just gave up on the idea of schooling.

Earlier in the “Covid Crisis” there was talk about internet based remote learning and we all had to buy printers and supposedly hand in the work completed by the kids. However as you probably know or can guess, that Program collapsed after just a very short time.

My question is to anyone that is in the Dominican Republic in the same situation: What, if anything are you doing to educate your kids?

We are in the same situation. While it is correct that nothing definite has been said, they have been throwing around several ideas. Maybe I have misunderstood, but I believe the talk has been for a good while that education would be virtual / internet-based for those who can do that. Since more than a month, our eldest's school has already been prepared to give fully virtual classes, the problem is, indeed, that they have to wait for the government to give the official guidance, so as Bob mentioned, just waiting here... I hope Bob is not right about having to wait several more weeks though... I understood that they would say something straight after the 16th, so hoping that...

Last spring, any completed schoolwork was photographed and uploaded to a platform where they graded it, so there was no need for any printer, but we have a fully equipped home office so printing/copying/virtual classes/etc won't be an issue, should that be needed...

 

[SKY]

It is pretty sure that almost all schools here will start online. Some have already announced this. None have announced in school education. And I doubt the new administration will be more liberal with in school than the last, in fact I see the opposite.

 

[josh2203]

It is pretty sure that almost all schools here will start online. Some have already announced this. None have announced in school education. And I doubt the new administration will be more liberal with in school than the last, in fact I see the opposite.

Correct. Cannot comment in general, but in our case, the school said a long time ago that they are ready (as are we) for 100 % virtual classes, and not so that they send tasks and expect just results, but actual virtual classes via online video conference... The problem is not them, the problem is, as said, that they have do what the ministry of education says. If they were to say that the school year is cancelled, the school cannot start... This is the stupid part which puts the school, the kids and us parents in a really uncomfortable situation, and only because nobody in the mighty government can say anything. One minister has no say on what happens after the 16th, the other has no say what happens or gets decided before that...

 

[CristoRey]

Good day to All,


I have two school age children and so far the Government has not mentioned anything regarding the current school year. It appears as if this country just gave up on the idea of schooling.

Earlier in the “Covid Crisis” there was talk about internet based remote learning and we all had to buy printers and supposedly hand in the work completed by the kids. However as you probably know or can guess, that Program collapsed after just a very short time.

My question is to anyone that is in the Dominican Republic in the same situation: What, if anything are you doing to educate your kids?

Please kindly let me know.



Thank you very much.

Not sure about the rest of the country but in Moca I can tell you its a huge mess.
11 year old Rosi has a very difficult life. Her mother (a friend of mine who has zero computer skills)
received a government issued school notebook from the Ministry of Education.

I went over there one afternoon in June before I left the country to help set up and test it to
make sure Rosi can log in to take the online classes starting Aug. 24th. This was the only
option available to her so long as she was registered at the 6th grade school.

Since then her mother was told the local public school (from 5th to now starting 6th grade)
would not be participating in the online studies and that she would need to take Rosi over to
the 6th education center in Licey and register her there, which she did. If they decided to bring
the kids back into the class room at any point during the 20-21 school year, Rosi will be forced to
take a gua gua each day to Licey from Moca each day to complete her 6th grade education.
NOT COOL.

Just Monday they (local Education Minister) announced the school where Rosi would normally
attend the 6th grade (on the same street she lives) will be open and allow limited attendance.
My friend can not get a straight answer from anyone regarding her daughter's school year.
Adding insult to injury as she has been unemployed now for almost 5 months with very little
financial assistance coming from the government.

For those of you who think this curfew and fear mongering is a good thing for the country...
go f*** yourself.

 

[chico bill]

Not sure about the rest of the country but in Moca I can tell you its a huge mess.
11 year old Rosi has a very difficult life. Her mother (a friend of mine who has zero computer skills)
received a government issued school notebook from the Ministry of Education.

I went over there one afternoon in June before I left the country to help set up and test it to
make sure Rosi can log in to take the online classes starting Aug. 24th. This was the only
option available to her so long as she was registered at the 6th grade school.

Since then her mother was told the local public school (from 5th to now starting 6th grade)
would not be participating in the online studies and that she would need to take Rosi over to
the 6th education center in Licey and register her there, which she did. If they decided to bring
the kids back into the class room at any point during the 20-21 school year, Rosi will be forced to
take a gua gua each day to Licey from Moca each day to complete her 6th grade education.
NOT COOL.

Just Monday they (local Education Minister) announced the school where Rosi would normally
attend the 6th grade (on the same street she lives) will be open and allow limited attendance.
My friend can not get a straight answer from anyone regarding her daughter's school year.
Adding insult to injury as she has been unemployed now for almost 5 months with very little
financial assistance coming from the government.

For those of you who think this curfew and fear mongering is a good thing for the country...
go f*** yourself.

You are dead on. On top of shuttering the economy we now have many children who will not receive an education. Many don't have internet , much less a computer at home.
Maybe they can all gather at a more affluent friend's house and huddle together to go online.
This curfew and shut down is ruining lives, and few to almost no children are affected by Covid.

At some point the shut down hawkers will be overruled on their decisions by an ever increasing angry populace.

So here's a double f**k yourselves to the public employees whose salaries continue on while they tell the struggling working men and women to heed their "sage advice".

For these politicos there will be a Price to Pay..............

 

[NanSanPedro]

You are dead on. On top of shuttering the economy we now have many children who will not receive an education. Many don't have internet , much less a computer at home.
Maybe they can all gather at a more affluent friend's house and huddle together to go online.
This curfew and shut down is ruining lives, and few to almost no children are affected by Covid.

At some point the shut down hawkers will be overruled on their decisions by an ever increasing angry populace.

So here's a double f**k yourselves to the public employees whose salaries continue on while they tell the struggling working men and women to heed their "sage advice".

For these politicos there will be a Price to Pay..............

I thought I remember reading that all kids got laptops or something along those lines. Not true or selectively true?

 

[CristoRey]

I thought I remember reading that all kids got laptops or something along those lines. Not true or selectively true?

Correct. All kids registered in public education were supposed to
receive one. Who knows how many were issued. Of those no one has any idea
how many families have both the electricity and internet connection/ speed
necessary in their homes (minus the noise) so the children can study online.

 

[nanita]

I believe the DR may follow Mexico's lead and 'educate' the kids via the TV and radio. This is Mexico's plan for ALL primary/secondary students. It's awful but I guess better than nothing?

 

[NanSanPedro]

I believe the DR may follow Mexico's lead and 'educate' the kids via the TV and radio. This is Mexico's plan for ALL primary/secondary students. It's awful but I guess better than nothing?

Why do you think it's awful?

 

[CristoRey]

Why do you think it's awful?

When I was growing up my father used to call the television
the idiot box. What happens if the child doesn't understand
something and needs to ask a question?

 

[NanSanPedro]

When I was growing up my father used to call the television
the idiot box. What happens if the child doesn't understand
something and needs to ask a question?

I remember that term too. So yea, it's one way learning. I would guess that you would need one parent there almost all the time with the kid if he or she is younger than 14.

 

[Fulano2]

This is so typical for this generation...
During my studies...long time ago, a book a day was a piece of cake.

 

[chico bill]

When I was growing up my father used to call the television
the idiot box. What happens if the child doesn't understand
something and needs to ask a question?

Yes and learning and being helped one on one by a teacher or a fellow student that has a better handle won't come through a TV. And how many TV channels for how many different classes.
This isn't going to happen.
Life can not be lived remote or in "The Cloud". We are social animals. School is from the Latin schola:
' Place of Instruction.' That word place needs to remain physical.

What about debate, discussion, questions? All these won't happen remotely.
Those parents choosing to hide their children from attending I say OK - keep them home so those thirsty for knowledge can advance.
There isn't enough bandwidth in the DR for interactive instruction of 4 million students.

 

[NanSanPedro]

Yes and learning and being helped one on one by a teacher or a fellow student that has a better handle won't come through a TV. And how many TV channels for how many different classes.
This isn't going to happen.
Life can not be lived remote or in "The Cloud". We are social animals. School is from the Latin schola:
' Place of Instruction.' That word place needs to remain physical.

What about debate, discussion, questions? All these won't happen remotely.
Those parents choosing to hide their children from attending I say OK - keep them home so those thirsty for knowledge can advance.
There isn't enough bandwidth in the DR for interactive instruction of 4 million students.

How much debate, discussion, and questions would happen in a normal public school environment? I am not familiar at all with RD public schools, but I am intimately familiar with Haiti's methodology. Much rote memorization. Mostly 1 way communication, at least in the primary and middle school grades. From what I can tell, it's the same here, although again I don't have any direct experience.

 

[nanita]

Why do you think it's awful?

1. the obvious limitations - families with multiple kids in multiple grades all needing to watch their 'shows'
2. power outages, noisy households
3. most importantly, watching TV is utterly passive and devoid of interaction - counterintuitive to the process of learning

I am sure K-12 in the DR has its issues (with notable exceptions, of course) but at least there are other students, an instructor and some form of interactive learning, along with assessments.

 

[CristoRey]

1. the obvious limitations - families with multiple kids in multiple grades all needing to watch their 'shows'
2. power outages, noisy households
3. most importantly, watching TV is utterly passive and devoid of interaction - counterintuitive to the process of learning

I am sure K-12 in the DR has its issues (with notable exceptions, of course) but at least there are other students, an instructor and some form of interactive learning, along with assessments.

This concept is absolutely nuts.
Have any of you ever seen the reaction when a young child
comes into a room full of young female adults and changes
the channel while they are in the middle of a "novelas" program?
BRUTAL. I can only imagine how its going to be when these
young kids are trying to learn in a typical lower income Dominican
home? Unfortunately they are the ones who need it most.

 

[potus]

The government has deferred the decision to the new government coming in. The new mister of Education has experience in Education. I suspect that it will announce a combination of online learning for high school and in class with many restrictions for elementary level. Due to the requirement for social distancing they will have to cancel the full day classes and revert to shifts. Huge challenges as many schools do not have adequate facilities. I believe with covid still on the increase any in school classes will be in areas with very low covid, or delayed until the virus infection rates are lower. Like everyone else in the country I think we won't know until several weeks into the new government their plan. Be prepared to be flexible.

Thank you, exactly what my impression is, we just do not know...not anything at all......that is why I am stretching my feelers out to see what others in the same situation are doing now.

 

[potus]

Yes and learning and being helped one on one by a teacher or a fellow student that has a better handle won't come through a TV. And how many TV channels for how many different classes.
This isn't going to happen.
Life can not be lived remote or in "The Cloud". We are social animals. School is from the Latin schola:
' Place of Instruction.' That word place needs to remain physical.

What about debate, discussion, questions? All these won't happen remotely.
Those parents choosing to hide their children from attending I say OK - keep them home so those thirsty for knowledge can advance.
There isn't enough bandwidth in the DR for interactive instruction of 4 million students.

I fully agree, hence my question that I hoped to get answered was regarding any experience with alternative solutions, such as for example: Homeschooling.....