With the announcement by President-elect Luis Abinader that Roberto Fulcar will be the next Education Minister, the focus is on when and how will the school year resume. Education Minister Antonio Peña Mirabal has set the start of the school year for 24 August 2020. This would be a combination of alternate days at school and online classes.
But the Dominican Association of Public School Teachers (ADP) says the conditions are not there for that plan to go forward.
Father Manuel Ruiz, who is the director of a Catholic vocational public-private school, Movearte, proposes that schools reopen in January 2021 for a school year through October-November. He proposes that the government take this as an opportunity to overhaul the education system. Ruiz says Dominican students have tested poorly with the traditional learning programs in place. He says better ways can be found to ensure that Dominican students acquire the language, comprehension, mathematical and learning skills needed to excel in life. He also says the government has not taken actions to prepare the schools for the 2020-2021 school year.
Julia Muniz, director of the Association of Private Educational Institutions (AINEP) called for flexibility in the design of the next school year given the circumstances. She said many private schools are ready to continue with online classes, while others are not.
All schools in the Dominican Republic had closed to prepare for the 15 March municipal election. They then did not reopen after the Medina administration declared a National State of Emergency on 19 March 2020. Many schools were able to complete their school year programs with online classes.
Darwin Caraballo, executive director for Educa, called for the decisions that are reached to focus on the different levels of spread of the disease nationwide. He said there are many communities where the spread is low, so classes could resume with certain normalcy. Educa is a business-funded educational initiative. Educa stands for Business for Education (Accion Empresarial por la Educacion).
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El Caribe
Diario Libre
El Caribe
Diario Libre
21 July