School starts today in most public and private schools in the DR, but thousands of children had a thrill of the lifetime yesterday when participating in an event in their honor at the National Palace on Sunday. President Hipólito Mejía, after speaking on occasion of the opening of classes, invited the thousands of public school children that had been bussed to the National Palace grounds for the event to come on in and tour the halls of the government headquarters. Breaking with all protocol and security measures, thousands of students dashed up the stairs and right in. Newspaper reports say that ambulances had to assist 10 children that had fainted. Hoy newspaper highlights that President Mejía applied the "entren tó" populist philosophy made famous by the president of the Senate, Ramón Alburquerque. Hoy newspaper highlights how the government has applied its populist approach, and "entren tó" with the invitation to the thousands of Dominican school students. During the ceremony, President Mejía had pointed out to the students that "they are the present of the nation and the future of the DR." "If we plant on fertile ground, if we take the measures to favor this sector, then there are no reasons to be pessimistic or concerned about the DR," he said prior to inviting the children to see the Palace for themselves. Minister of Education, Vice President Milagros Ortiz spoke at the event saying that 1,987,351 students were enrolled in the school year that started today. This is broken down to: Kindergarten (ages 4-6): 123,035 students Elementary School (1st to 6th grades): 1,413,419 students High School (7th to 12th grades): 311,654 students Adult Education: 115,457 students Vocational Education: 23,788 students
