In an interview with Hoy newspaper, leading teacher Maria Teresa Cabrera asks the Minister of Education to put herself in the position of teachers, and to understand that if she is finding it hard to cope with the high cost of living on RD$185,000 a month, how does she expect teachers who earn RD$8,972 to cope?
She said that the Ministry of Education, (MINERD) had lied when they said that teachers receive incentives of between 5% and 20% depending how many years they have been teaching, and said the maximum was in fact 15%.
She went on to say that the Dominican Teachers Association (ADP) was working on a proposal to ask for a 100% increase in teachers’ salaries and that the Ministry should approve this unless they wanted teachers to strike and take to the streets in protest.
She said that the Ministry has not raised salaries as it should have done, as the first time it took them nine years to do it, the second one was in 2008, and the third increase should have been in 2011 and although we are now in 2013, the teachers have still not received their increase.
She added that in addition the more expensive health services were not covered by teachers’ health insurance.
www.hoy.com.do/el-pais/2013/2/5/465760/Cabrera-pide-a-ministra-de-Educacion-entender-que-si-a-ella-no-le-alcanzo