President Luis Abinader announced the 2020-2021 school year will bring irreversible changes for the better to the education system. “Covid 19 has committed our present, but we cannot let it mortgage our future,” said Abinader during the government announcement of the 2020-2021 School Year Plan.
Abinader said what is happening is “transcendental”. “It will guarantee equity and inclusion so that everyone has access to quality education,” said the President. He said the government would be investing around RD$27 billion in connectivity and the purchase of tablets and notebooks for public school students.
During the same presentation, Education Minister Roberto Furcal announced that distance learning is the new norm in the Dominican Republic for the rest of 2020. “We are going to turn the tragedy of Covid-19 into the launching pad for reducing the digital divide in the country,” he said.
The program will start with the training of teachers and parents as collaborators of the distance learning programs as of 18 September 2020, with special programs. “It will be a single program for all,” announced Furcal. He said printed materials would be distributed, but this would also be available online. TV and radio would be important for the start of the program as connectivity for the students is achieved.
The official online classes program begins on 2 November. Furcal said that schools that start before that date are free to do so. He said the schools nevertheless have to cover the official program materials. He announced classes would be extended another 45 days so that everyone has time to finish the school year. Several private schools have already commenced their classes online.
Furcal announced that a combination of programs via television, cable TV, radio and the Internet will provide the courses for public school children. He said by 18 September 2020, all public school teachers will have received their laptops to participate in the distance learning training programs. He said they have requested the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) participation and that of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to guarantee the transparency of government procurement transactions for a tablet or notepad for each student. The representatives Rosa Elcarte for UNICEF and Inka Matilla for UNDP signed the agreement during the 2020-2021 School Year Plan presentation at the Presidential Palace.
Furcal stressed the 2020-2021 School Year Plan was “the combination of solutions that was felt to be the best for the objective of quality education for all without risking students’ health and lives, teachers, management, suppliers, and all in the educational community”.
Furcal said that a survey carried out revealed that 98% of families were committed to collaborating in the education of their children. He said the parents and tutors, nevertheless, expressed they felt they did not have the adequate skills. That is the reason for the training programs.
There are 2.8 million pre-university students in the Dominican Republic. Furcal emphasized the 2020-2021 Education Plan seeks to guarantee universal access to education and at the same time equal access of all to quality education.
Furcal explained that the school breakfast and school lunch programs would be continued, but raw ingredients would be supplied to the homes of students for the preparation of the meals at home.
He said the Ministry of Education is preparing a series of videos with cultural themes, driver’s education, ethics, good manners, and a variety of subjects for the afternoon classes that will be available via radio. These will be known as “Citizen Masterclasses.”
Furcal said that over the next months, schools will be subject to renovations to be ready for when the in-person instruction can resume.
Furcal called out for parents to become co-educators. “This will be a successful school year,” stressed the new Education Minister.
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24 August 2020