Massive effort to get kids back to learning

Dolores

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The Ministry of Education (MINERD) has set 2 November 2020 as the kickoff date for the 2020-2021 school year. Just how classes this year will go is still somewhat fuzzy at best. However, the government has lined up over 150 radio stations and 100 local TV channels for the beginning of the classes. This is a boom for the radio stations and TV channels because the government is paying for the time.

The Ministry of Education is turning to TV and radio for the massive undertaking of distance learning. When classes closed down in mid-March at the start of the lockdown for Covid-19, the educational community got a taste of what could be the new normal for 2020. But with TV and radio networks integrated, the Ministry of Education is promising a totally new experience for children, parents and teachers.

The Ministry of Education has contracted for three hours in the...

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johne

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But for many many communities they must be proactive and get the learning process started without government assistance which will not come. In the small community that I am involved with we started 3 weeks ago with makeshift space and teacher's aids. I solicited for donations in the states for school supplies and have already received one baril here and one is in transit, all with generous donations, Today we started to construct a FB page which we will use in the near future to communicate with the local community and for me to use to generate more donations, (We don't not accept cash of any kind only materials and supplies. ) This is not going to happen with the government that deals in fairy tales and uber type private schools.
 

NanSanPedro

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But for many many communities they must be proactive and get the learning process started without government assistance which will not come. In the small community that I am involved with we started 3 weeks ago with makeshift space and teacher's aids. I solicited for donations in the states for school supplies and have already received one baril here and one is in transit, all with generous donations, Today we started to construct a FB page which we will use in the near future to communicate with the local community and for me to use to generate more donations, (We don't not accept cash of any kind only materials and supplies. ) This is not going to happen with the government that deals in fairy tales and uber type private schools.

Totally agree, Johne. I started homeschooling my kid last week. I'm also getting help from Auryn on here for the community kids. Not sure yet how that's going to play out. But my kid is doing ok so far. He is so far behind in math it will take a long time to catch up. I don't think he's engineer material but I need to get him functional in math. However with English and Bible he's doing well. We will add either science or world history next year.
 

johne

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Totally agree, Johne. I started homeschooling my kid last week. I'm also getting help from Auryn on here for the community kids. Not sure yet how that's going to play out. But my kid is doing ok so far. He is so far behind in math it will take a long time to catch up. I don't think he's engineer material but I need to get him functional in math. However with English and Bible he's doing well. We will add either science or world history next year.
God bless you.
 
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rogerjac

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Well the massive effort hasnt reached me yet. A week away from the start of something or nothing, havent heard a peep out of the school saying what, when or how its going to happen. I heard from one other parent that the kids will be expected to be in front of their screens at the start in full uniform and carry on as if they are in class. No getting up for a snack or bathroom whenever. Now we just have to get those screens with all day power and internet. I cant see it happening
 

CristoRey

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Well the massive effort hasnt reached me yet. A week away from the start of something or nothing, havent heard a peep out of the school saying what, when or how its going to happen. I heard from one other parent that the kids will be expected to be in front of their screens at the start in full uniform and carry on as if they are in class. No getting up for a snack or bathroom whenever. Now we just have to get those screens with all day power and internet. I cant see it happening
The public education system is broken
top to bottom. This nonsense will only
leave a generation or two further behind
the rest of the developed world in the future.
 
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I have ben dipping in the telecom business in the DR (ISP) over the past two years, and I can tell you, the online education on a massive scale will not work in the DR. Definitely not On Nov 2, 2020.
 

bob saunders

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To put it bluntly, its a dogs breakfast. They are trying to teach all the teachers PowerPoint , virtually when most don't have a computer yet, none of the children have their government tablets yet, and instead of sticking to one or two programs they want you to use half a dozen, all which take considerable space on your phone.
 
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nanita

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Well the massive effort hasnt reached me yet. A week away from the start of something or nothing, havent heard a peep out of the school saying what, when or how its going to happen. I heard from one other parent that the kids will be expected to be in front of their screens at the start in full uniform and carry on as if they are in class. No getting up for a snack or bathroom whenever. Now we just have to get those screens with all day power and internet. I cant see it happening

That would be funny if it wasn't so sad. :-/
I have a Dominican friend that I WhatsApp with, he's a great guy, a smart guy, a hardworking guy...
I've seen him work like a dog over the past few years, unable to get ahead, barely keeping his head above water.
He writes like a 5 year old in Spanish, obviously the educational system utterly failed him, it truly is sad to see the disservice the broken system does to capable, good people. Kind of breaks my heart.
 
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XTraveller

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God bless you.
NanSanPedro,
How does one get the public School program for a particular school grade. ( example 3rd grade) This would be useful for homeschooling in addition to whatever coming in November.

Sorry Johne, I think I posted this in the wrong place but can not cancel. This was address for NanSanPedro but maybe you can help.

Xtraveller
 

CristoRey

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I have ben dipping in the telecom business in the DR (ISP) over the past two years, and I can tell you, the online education on a massive scale will not work in the DR. Definitely not On Nov 2, 2020.
They should start with achieving the basics first.
Things like electricity and a decent internet connection.
Then perhaps training the people how it works prior
to jumping straight to online classes.
 
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Feb 7, 2007
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Problem is
1. Last mile (many many maaaany use paqueticos)
2. International connectivity
Current peak time international bandwidth for the whole DR is about 1.5 Tbps

With 3 million online students all streaming at the same time at 2 Mbps a Zoom meeting in SD, it's a 6 Tbps international bandwidth required all morning, every day. There is not enough international bandwidth available at short time (under a year) to increase capacity from 1.5 to 6 Tbps.

80% of Internet you use at home or business is local, (Netflix, Youtube, Facebook, etc.) served from CDN appliances within the DR. It's prerecorded content served from content delivery networks with local storage appliances in the country.

Put in Live Zoom, Classroom etc. and the infrastructure is unable to cope, those nearest servers are in the USA and that requires international, undersea cable, bandwidth.

Without having local Zoom servers (governments would need to negotiate that with Zoom) and local peering among all ISPs (non existent) you cannot possibly achieve 3 million students being online for a Zoom class, all at the same time.
 

NanSanPedro

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NanSanPedro,
How does one get the public School program for a particular school grade. ( example 3rd grade) This would be useful for homeschooling in addition to whatever coming in November.

Sorry Johne, I think I posted this in the wrong place but can not cancel. This was address for NanSanPedro but maybe you can help.

Xtraveller

I don't have the public school program. If you ask Auryn, she may be able to help. So far, I have Spanish material for grade K only.

Another alternative is to buy material in English from a home school supplier. I'm doing that for my kid using Abeka in Pensacola, FL. My kid is highly motivated to learn English so it's not a big deal for him to translate and ask me for stuff he doesn't understand. He's also 17 so he's fairly mature. I'm not sure it would work for a 3rd grader, but the printed material is not expensive and it would be worth a shot.
 

johne

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NanSanPedro,
How does one get the public School program for a particular school grade. ( example 3rd grade) This would be useful for homeschooling in addition to whatever coming in November.

Sorry Johne, I think I posted this in the wrong place but can not cancel. This was address for NanSanPedro but maybe you can help.

Xtraveller
Forget "what's coming" in Nov". Forget anything that you think you can get from the public school system. I had that mindset back in July and Aug. Too late for that foolishness. We got an old door and set it up on 4 concrete blocks and got started. Then when we had too many kids we opened up a shed. Younger kids in the shed. Older kids outside on the "table". I went on line, (there are a gazzillion sites) and do a good search.Right there on line in full color. Then I wrote to a community board in NYC and got loads of supplies which I have been shipping in a baril every six weeks. Volunteers help me get the baril in SD and we bring it to the community. This weekend we decided how the item will be used, and started on a FB page. Yesterday I had lunch with a member of the community to find out whois the local pol and how he is going to help us. YES! he will help us or not sleep at nights.

Proactive! is the only hope. That and a lot of prayers. There is no time in my life waiting for someone in government o help.
 
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johne

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Forget "what's coming" in Nov". Forget anything that you think you can get from the public school system. I had that mindset back in July and Aug. Too late for that foolishness. We got an old door and set it up on 4 concrete blocks and got started. Then when we had too many kids we opened up a shed. Younger kids in the shed. Older kids outside on the "table". I went on line, (there are a gazzillion sites) and do a good search.Right there on line in full color. Then I wrote to a community board in NYC and got loads of supplies which I have been shipping in a baril every six weeks. Volunteers help me get the baril in SD and we bring it to the community. This weekend we decided how the item will be used, and started on a FB page. Yesterday I had lunch with a member of the community to find out whois the local pol and how he is going to help us. YES! he will help us or not sleep at nights.

Proactive! is the only hope. That and a lot of prayers. There is no time in my life waiting for someone in government o help.
ETA Left out one sentence "Basic program for this level of schoolling is on line. If you have a friend back home that is an educator maybe they can send you relevant material."
 
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CDNBear

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Problem is
1. Last mile (many many maaaany use paqueticos)
2. International connectivity
Current peak time international bandwidth for the whole DR is about 1.5 Tbps

With 3 million online students all streaming at the same time at 2 Mbps a Zoom meeting in SD, it's a 6 Tbps international bandwidth required all morning, every day. There is not enough international bandwidth available at short time (under a year) to increase capacity from 1.5 to 6 Tbps.

80% of Internet you use at home or business is local, (Netflix, Youtube, Facebook, etc.) served from CDN appliances within the DR. It's prerecorded content served from content delivery networks with local storage appliances in the country.

Put in Live Zoom, Classroom etc. and the infrastructure is unable to cope, those nearest servers are in the USA and that requires international, undersea cable, bandwidth.

Without having local Zoom servers (governments would need to negotiate that with Zoom) and local peering among all ISPs (non existent) you cannot possibly achieve 3 million students being online for a Zoom class, all at the same time.
Hah, could be done with the right expertise (you seem to have some), backing/equipment, money and intense work.

But it seems the train have remained at the station for ETA November
 

johne

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Hah, could be done with the right expertise (you seem to have some), backing/equipment, money and intense work.

But it seems the train have remained at the station for ETA November
Also known as "The Foolishness Train".
 
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Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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NanSanPedro,
How does one get the public School program for a particular school grade. ( example 3rd grade) This would be useful for homeschooling in addition to whatever coming in November.

Sorry Johne, I think I posted this in the wrong place but can not cancel. This was address for NanSanPedro but maybe you can help.

Xtraveller
Stationery shops and bookshops will have the textbooks for each school year for the core subjects Lengua Española, Sociales, Cívica, Matemáticas, and Naturales.

I had a quick look online and one of the school textbook publishers Santillana has online educational resources too.

If ordering the books make sure you're selecting the right level (primary or secondary) and note that you have the option of buying a teacher's guide as well as the textbook and workbook.

 
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CristoRey

Welcome To Wonderland
Apr 1, 2014
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Problem is
1. Last mile (many many maaaany use paqueticos)
2. International connectivity
Current peak time international bandwidth for the whole DR is about 1.5 Tbps

With 3 million online students all streaming at the same time at 2 Mbps a Zoom meeting in SD, it's a 6 Tbps international bandwidth required all morning, every day. There is not enough international bandwidth available at short time (under a year) to increase capacity from 1.5 to 6 Tbps.

80% of Internet you use at home or business is local, (Netflix, Youtube, Facebook, etc.) served from CDN appliances within the DR. It's prerecorded content served from content delivery networks with local storage appliances in the country.

Put in Live Zoom, Classroom etc. and the infrastructure is unable to cope, those nearest servers are in the USA and that requires international, undersea cable, bandwidth.

Without having local Zoom servers (governments would need to negotiate that with Zoom) and local peering among all ISPs (non existent) you cannot possibly achieve 3 million students being online for a Zoom class, all at the same time.
I work in the call center/ outsourcing industry down here. Although the internet here is better than places like Colombia and Venezuela, it pales in comparision to most Western nations. Definitely not able to support online learning nationwide.