Traffic for those circulating in access roads to the Ministry of Education on Av. Maximo Gomez was practically paralyzed. Eduardo Hidalgo, the president of the ADP, the ever-powerful public school teacher union, had called for public school teachers to not go to work and instead head to the Ministry of Education to demand a 20% increase in wages. The director of the union called for 120,000 teachers nationwide to participate in the protest instead of going to teach.
Public schools were off for Tuesday, 23 April 2024, affecting 2.6 million students nationwide.
The showing of power days before the presidential election seeks to twist the arm of Minister of Education Angel Hernandez. Hernandez replaced the infamous Roberto Furcal, a former president of the ADP who was the campaign manager for President Luis Abinader into the 2020 presidential election and his first choice for Minister of Education. Furcal was removed two years into the job after media coverage pointed to numerous irregularities in office.
Minister Angel Hernandez says: “We have to make a decision: we prioritize investment in the quality of education or we allocate most of the resources to the payment of salaries, retirements, pensions and medical insurance,” Hernández stressed.
He said that of the RD$252.7 billion budgeted in 2023, more than RD$121.72 billion was spent on salaries and contributions to teachers.
The new increases demanded by teachers would add RD$43.77 billion to the annual teacher payment budget.
Hernández considers that it is not the appropriate strategy, and points to the pact signed with the ADP last year.
Diario Libre blasts the ADP and in an editorial said that demanding more money and not demanding more quality education from its members is not a good practice.
With few exceptions, public school teachers are the best paid teachers in the Dominican Republic. They also have better benefits. This has caused a migration of private school teachers to the public sector.
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Diario Libre
24 April 2024