Education Minister Roberto Fulcar said he voted in favor of the progressive and consented gradual return to in-person learning in the Dominican Republic. He said the Ministry of Education and the National Education Council approved the preliminary protocols for the gradual return to in-person classroom education.
He explained that the mapping of the levels of Covid-19 nationwide would be presented and the progress made with the national vaccination program. He said this will enable to identify the pandemic’s behavior in each of the provinces and municipalities of the country. He said they seek to quantify the numbers of students and centers that could reopen nationwide.
He spoke of the parents signing consent forms. The protocols also include the guidelines for safe return to school for parents, teachers and students. He said the students would be divided by groups so there is a partial return to classes, while distance learning programs will continue.
Minister Furcal said that teachers in the pre-school and elementary sections will be vaccinated in the second part of Phase I of the National Vaccination Plan. Yet he did not have a date for the vaccinations.
The Ministry of Education has announced the protocols for the return to classes will be presented “next week.”
The Ministry of Education has spent billions to purchase computers and laptops for public schools and to prepare distance learning programs for radio, TV, and the Internet.
Parents, private schools, and pro-education organizations have been pressuring the Ministry of Education to kickstart in-person learning at centers that can offer the adequate conditions and are ready to reopen. The Dominican Public Teachers Association (ADP) president, Xiomara Guante has argued many public schools cannot reopen because they have not been conditioned.
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El Nuevo Diario
25 February