Diario Libre confirms that 16 of the 20 entities appointed to the Public School Teachers Oversight Committee that had abandoned their participation due to obstacles to their role are not returning to the oversight committee. The Ministry of Education had issued a note saying they were back.
Among those that will no longer observe the public school teachers contest are representatives of the country’s principal universities.
It appears now that the Ministry of Education will be appointing new members to replace the resigning observers.
The teacher contest seeks to hire 19,181 public school teachers. In the meantime, the Ministry of Education has hired thousands of temporary teachers.
Before abandoning the effort, the members of the observers committee left recommendations for the Ministry of Education. These are:
- 1. Space the teacher hiring over time and according to the needs of the system, and carry them out in a permanent and systematic manner.
- 2. The contests should not be massive processes, since they make the interview phase and field supervision more difficult and increase costs.
- 3. To have a team of technical specialists in evaluation matters, from different levels of the ministry.
- 4. Take all precautions and decisions to prevent the direct or indirect incidence of actors outside the process and the administration of the tests (Regional Education Offices and the ADP).
- 5. To make transparent the studies of needs and estimates made to reach the number of 19,181 vacancies.
- 6. Include qualified graduates in other areas such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology.
- 7. Always take into account the graduates of the Teacher Training Program of Excellence sponsored by the Ministry of Education.
- 8. Incorporate the technical collaboration of external institutions.
- 9. Submit an audit of the computer system.
- Submit information on the evaluations and interviews.
Resigning from the observer committee are: Asociación de Instituciones Educativas Privadas (Ainep); the Asociación Nacional de Jóvenes Empresarios (ANJE); el Centro Cultural Poveda; el Centro Juan XXIII; CIED-Humano – Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Pucmm; the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (Flacso); the Foro Socio Educativo; Iniciativa Dominicana por una Educación de Calidad (IDEC) and the Instituto Tecnológico (Intec).
Also, Repensar la Educación (RED); Sector Escuela Salesiana; la Universidad Iberoamericana (Unibe), la Universidad Pedro Henríquez Ureña (Unphu); World Vision y la Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (Pucmm).
The Ministry of Education has been constantly making headlines for major irregularities, especially in procurement and hiring. Among the latest in the limelight for major irregularities is the Inabie procurement division in charge of the allocation of school luncheons. The e-devices procurement contest has made headlines for buying from overpriced suppliers. The Procurement Agency ordered a stop to this tender, but the Ministry of Education secured a court ruling that required the case to be heard in court so the contracting could continue as granted.
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Diario Libre
7 December 2021