The November 2020 Gallup-Hoy poll revealed the difficulties for online education in the Dominican Republic. The Ministry of Education is set on instating a digital learning program nationwide and is placing an order for RD$15 billion to buy 940,000 computers and tablets. It is confident this will reduce the digital divide in the country.
The poll revealed that the gap in Internet connectivity is greater in the East and Southwest. Even in Greater Santo Domingo (National District and Santo Domingo province) 65% of homes are not connected.
As a result, the Ministry of Education uses time on regular TV channels and radio to broadcast classes. Public schools that already have been supplied with computers and are located in areas with known Internet coverage are working with online learning, supplemented by TV and radio programming.
The poll also asked how the distance learning program was going. 40.8% of the parents said their children were doing well, while another 31.9% said things were not going well.
65.87% of the households surveyed said they had children 6-11 years old. Of these, 80.2% were in public schools and 15% in private schools. 0.6% said they did not enroll this year.
The survey was carried out nationwide from 11-16 November 2020. 1,200 households were polled in person. The sample has an error margin of 2.8%.
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Hoy
25 November 2020