President Luis Abinader and Ombudsman Pedro Ulloa were present at the Presidential Palace on 24 July 2023 for the signing of a new agreement between the Ministry of Education and the Dominican Association of Public School Teachers (ADP). The deal strengthens the role of regional, district and central directorates and of the Associations of Parents, Mothers and Friends of the School (APMAE).
The Ministry of Education (MINERD) and the Dominican Association of Teachers (ADP) describe the agreement as “historic” in its focus on improving the quality of education. The parties agree to respect the teaching schedules. There will be salary and pension increases, and better access to health services for public school teachers.
Education Minister Angel Hernandez is pleased. He spoke with optimism about how the focus now is on improving quality of education and planning for the next ten years. The agreement contemplates carrying out an in-depth analysis into why there have not been advances in the quality of public school education despite the government investing 4% of the GDP in funding for the Ministry of Education. The objective is to come up with innovative ways to improve education and ensure the all the taxpayer cash invested in the education sector is producing desired results.
“The issue of teacher training, the definition of a new horizon for Dominican education, which has to do with the definition that will be made for the next 10 years, the path that we are going to follow for educational change so that education is strengthened is what is fundamental to ensure that children learn efficiently,” said Education Minister Angel Hernandez.
“It is an agreement in which only the country wins, where justice is brought to the teachers, but it also brings tranquility to the education sector so that together we can improve education and the quality of education,” said President Luis Abinader, leading the ceremony at the Presidential Palace, together with the Minister of Education, Angel Hernandez, the president of the Dominican Teachers Association (ADP), Eduardo Hidalgo and the Ombudsman, Pablo Ulloa. The President highlighted that the main points of the agreement are the fulfillment of the school calendar and timetable without interruptions, increases in wages and in pensions for retired teachers and the reconditioning of school infrastructures.
The president of the ADP, Professor Eduardo Hidalgo, said: “This is the possible commitment that we have been concluding this afternoon to guarantee the quality of education, after several months of dialogue, taking into account all the parties.”
The eight-page agreement also establishes support for the program to expand coverage and quality in the second cycle of the initial level from three to five years; the initial literacy program to improve reading, writing and mathematics in the first cycle of elementary education; in addition to the pedagogical initiatives of transformation and institutional modernization promoted by the Ministry of Education to overcome the gaps in student learning.
The parties agreed to staggered salary increases for retired and pensioned teachers starting this year; the reorganization of personnel and the strengthening of the dialogue tables to reach consensus on the solutions to education problems.
The Ministry of Education commits to raise teachers’ salaries in the Dominican Pre-University Education System next year, the percentages and application of which will be discussed in 2023, as well as to create an incentive for school principals.
The government delegates to the National Health Service (SNS) the building of two hospitals for public school teachers, one in the South region and the other in the East. It also agrees to support the development of five teachers’ recreational centers.
Bilateral committees will be in charge of monitoring the agreement, with the Ombudsman as the main figure as mediator and overseer of the fulfillment of the agreements reached by the parties.
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Presidency
25 July 2023