The government is heavily in arrears with suppliers of the public school breakfast program. Several suppliers that have already accumulated millions in debt have suspended the dispatches, as reported in Hoy newspaper. Eduardo Hidalgo, a spokesman for the Dominican Teachers Association (ADP), denounced the massive debt owed to them by the Ministry of Education, which he estimated at RD$300 million. The amount considerably affects the finances of the local manufactures. Noteworthy is that Education Minister and Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch is currently vying for the PRD presidential nomination with President Hipolito Mejia. The school breakfast program instituted by the previous administration is one of the most important in place because it serves as a major incentive for parents to send their children to school, regardless of whether they can prepare their own breakfast for the children at home.
Likewise, the much-publicized government welfare program that would supply RD$300 a month to 100,000 mothers with children in public schools has collapsed. El Caribe newspaper says the government has not made the payments since September. The money is only enough to buy a medium-sized can of milk for the children’s nutrition today. The Ministry of Education says the government has not authorized any allotments since then.