President Hipolito Mejia and Vice President-Minister of Education Milagros Ortiz Bosch were the first to share the enthusiasm of US Ambassador Charles Manatt for a new program that will help more Dominicans to be bilingual. Both were present at the ceremony where Ambassador Manatt proudly announced he has help gather RD$4 million for the start of the Ministry of Education’s Private Sector English Teacher Training Program. In 1995 the Ministry of Education issued an order under which all Dominican children in public schools were to receive instruction in English as a second language beginning in Grade 5. To implement this order the public schools needed the services of 3,000 additional teachers, as only 179 bilingual teachers were available. The project suffered delays until now. The Instituto Cultural Dominicano-Americano in Santo Domingo (ICDA) and the Centro Cultural Dominicano-Americano (CCDA) in Santiago, using a curriculum designed by a specialist contracted by the Embassy of the United States, agreed to give public school teachers two years of instruction in English, followed by two years of training in methodology leading to the degree of Technician in education with specialty in English. The project will begin in March 2001 with an initial program offering a twoyear course in English language skills for 1000 public school teachers, costing about US$250,000. The Ministry of Education with the support of the private sector will share the costs. Ambassador Manatt secured the support of banker Ramon Baez (Baninter) and of leading Dominican baseball players, such as Sammy Sosa and Pedro Martínez who were at the ceremony to announce the start of the program. Donations to this program can be presented to both the Dominican and US governments for tax deductions. Those wishing to seek a Dominican tax deduction should address their check to either the ICDA or the CCDA. Those wishing a US tax deduction should address their check to the US Embassy.
