Hoy newspaper carried a report on how the government of Japan is helping the Dominican government build 209 new classrooms in 52 schools, of which 33 will be ready for the school year that opens in September, and the remaining for February 1999. Some US$10 million are being invested in the public schools that are going up in poor zones in four provinces and the National District. The state donated the land and cleared the grounds for the construction. Eleven schools are being built in the National District, 12 in La Vega, Constanza and Jarabacoa; 10 in Castillo, Villa Riva and San Francisco de Macorís, in the province of Duarte; six in Las Terrenas and Samaná; 13 in Nagua and Cabrera in the province of María Trinidad Sánchez. The Japanese firm Fujita Corporation is in charge of the constructions, assisted by Mohri Architects & Associates. Inc. Architect Julio Peña, director of school constructions at the Ministry of Education, is the coordinator of the project on behalf of the Dominican government. In the DR there are about 20,000 public schools. The Fernández government has built over 1,000 new classrooms since August 1996. According to the report, the new government inherited 18,600 classrooms, of which only 40% were in good condition. The government invested RD$600 million in its first year to rehabilitate these and refurbish them. The report states that the government has built 230 schools with a total of 1,300 classrooms, and repaired another 1,870 schools, with over 10,000 classrooms.
