Speaking during a press briefing at the Presidential Palace, Education Minister Alejandrina German announced that all public school pupils would receive an ID card, a temporary solution to the problem of children whose parents have not secured their birth certificates. An estimated 25% of Dominican children do not have birth certificates because of parental negligence. The lack of this document affects hundreds of families when they register their children. The document is scheduled for delivery in 2007 and 2008. The ID card will give its holder access to several government social programs. The document will also enable the government to monitor school dropout rates. The Minister remarked that while in urban areas there are not enough classrooms for elementary and mid school, in rural areas there are 121 schools with less than 15 children as a result of migration to towns and cities. She said that the government ministry employs 57,000 teachers and 27,000 administrative employees and has a payroll of RD$742 million a month.
German added that a diagnostic study of the sector carried out by her department shows that over 181,000 students repeat a grade, while 207,000 give up their studies every year. She says that 91% of the population 6-18 years old is in school. Of these, 22% – or more than 500,000 students – are older than the grade they should be in.
German said that the present practice of using the public schools for three groups of students each day means that the number of hours students receive is insufficient to guarantee a minimum standard of quality education.