Minister of Education Ligia Amada Melo said that children of illegal Haitians can enroll in public schools. She says the government is making an exception in the rule that requires students to present birth certificates in order to contribute to reduce illiteracy in the DR. She says that the Haitians take places available for Dominican children, but the government is authorizing their entrance into public schools for humanitarian reasons. She said that the measure also benefits the children of poor Dominican farmers whose parents have not requested their children’s birth certificates. While they will get an education, the Ministry will not be issued eighth grade certificates until they can present the birth certificates. She said, though, that she is aware that many Haitians are enrolled in high school programs. One of the major problems of the Haitian immigrants is that they do not have certificates or any legal documentation themselves, which makes it more difficult for them to be issued documentation of any kind. "The more uneducated people we have, the more problems we will have," she said. The official decision comes in response to the requests of the Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico-Haitianas that had urged a solution so those children without birth documents could get an education. It also formalizes a practice that had been common for many years.
