The Public School Teachers Association (ADP) called for public school teachers to return to in-person classes as of Wednesday, 19 January 2022. The president of the ADP, Eduardo Hidalgo had been against the return to in-person learning. After a meeting on 18 January 2022 at the Ministry of Education, Hidalgo accepted to be part of the joint technical committee with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health to permanently monitor the pandemic and health protocols at all levels of pre-university education.
Hidalgo said that the National Executive Committee of the union ratified its vocation to work together with the Ministry of Education, ratified its vocation to defend public schools, quality education and ratified the defense of the fundamental rights of the Dominican people.
Reports were that several teachers had broken ranks and were back in school. Likewise, former presidents of the ADP had spoken up against the decision of the ADP that kept public school teachers out of school despite the Ministry of Education ordering classes to resume in person as of 11 January 2022.
The ADP has a membership of around 110,000 public school teachers. Around two million students are enrolled in public schools around the country. ADP president Eduardo Hidalgo had said that around 10,000 teachers were sick with the Omicron variant or influenza caught during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Meanwhile, several private schools have not reopened for in-person learning and have decided to keep to remote learning through the end of January.
Read more in Spanish:
N Digital
El Caribe
Diario Libre
Listin Diario
19 January 2022