Warehouses of the Ministry of Education stock around 5 millions of books, and two million in electronic devices, school uniform items and more that were never delivered. Julissa Cespedes reported on her program Reporte Especial on CDN, Channel 37 that all this was warehoused when Dominican children in public schools were left without textbooks.
She explained the purchases were made without coordinating with what was included in the school curriculum. She said the items are now said to be obsolete and are waiting for incineration.
Despite the awarding of 4% of GDP to the Ministry of Education since 2016, the investigative journalist’s investigation indicates that the purpose of the past administrations seemed to be simply to spend an astronomical amount of money. Cespedes says that either too much was bought, or too little had been delivered on time.
Standardized tests have shown that the major investment of taxpayer money did not improve the quality of education.
Cespedes previously had reported on the black box of the Ministry of Education payroll, how schools that were never built were paid for by the government and how a Inabie warehouse became a millionaire’s warehouse. She had also reported on how the major government program, Digital Republic did not fulfill its purpose.
In the investigative report, Cespedes says she investigated after Abinader appointed Angel Hernandez to the position on 3 August 2022 to replace Roberto Furcal, and Hernández complained bitterly that he had found millions of unused items in warehouses.
In three of the 14 warehouses that the Ministry of Education has, two of these located in Haina and one in Manoguayabo, mountains of boxes with more than five million books, and other materials purchased in large volumes in periods ranging from 2012 to 2019 were found.
According to Carlos Vidal, director of Medios Educativos, even after the public curriculum was changed by mandate of the National Education Council, purchases of obsolete material continued to be made in a futuristic manner and in large quantities.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
CDN Reporte Especial
6 March 2023