After ruminating on the OP?s initial post, I find that the main bottleneck in continuing education into high school, resides in the fact that there are no high schools in rural communities. High schools are all located in the provincial capital and larger urban centers. The DR Department of Education does not provide free, or subsidized, transportation for students living in rural areas. For example, my own sister-in-law, Adalgisa, has to spend 120 pesos round trip, everyday, in order to travel to Bani, from her home in Arroyo Salado, to attend high school. This is usually beyond the budget of most rural families. Then there's lunch. Also, there are no subsidized soup kitchens where out-of-town students can have a low cost lunch. So those students who manage to scrounge transportation money, usually go without lunch. Then there's the high cost of uniforms, school supplies, and accessories, none of which is provided by the Department of Education. For a rural student to further his/her education into high school, is a very costly endeavor, usually beyond the budget of a typical rural family. So let's not be too quick in blaming the political system, since the politicians are too busy trying to make a living themselves,
avanzando metro a metro, e' pa'lante que vamos!
