Speaking at the Presidential Palace on 19 October 2022, President Luis Abinader detailed new initiatives of the Minsitry of Education now under Minister Angel Hernandez. The Presidency spoke of new efforts underway at the Ministry of Education to hire more public school teachers and provide these with training and continuing education programs. President Abinader was accompanied by Vice President Raquel Peña, Presidency Minister Joel Santos and Education Minister Ángel Hernández. Hernandez was named in August 2022.
The efforts call for the construction of classrooms, and equipping of polytechnical institutes. Public school teachers will benefit from special financing to purchase their homes.
President Abinader said the aim is to make public spending on education more efficient. For two years, the press followed the wasteful spending during the two-year term of President Abinader’s first choice for minister of Education, politician Roberto Furcal.
Abinader speaking at the Presidential Palace on 19 October 2022 announced the transfer of RD$3.4 billion for 2,159 public schools in 122 districts. The funds will help with decentralization at the Ministry of Education. He said that this means that the center and district directors will have the funds to act to fix situations once they identify the problems in each of their elementary schools and high schools.
President Abinader said that 24,300 teachers and 858 principals will participate in continuous learning programs to strengthen their skills. This continuing education program has a budget of RD$816 million.
President Abinader said that this August 2022, in Santiago de los Caballeros, a bidding process was opened for the construction of more than 1,000 modules of 3 classrooms each for early childhood (children 3 to 5 years of age) was begun. He said that 1,017 new classrooms should be ready to receive students by November 2022. A second phase calls for an additional 900 new classrooms, and a third phase, 1,083 new classrooms.
The objective is that 75,000 children from 3 to 5 years old be admitted to early childhood programs, double the number of children served today. The government has allocated RD$11 billion to the construction of the early childhood facilities in the 2022 and 2023 national budgets.
The head of state also announced that the Vivienda Feliz program for teachers is launched. He said at least 1,000 public school teachers will be the first to benefit.
The President also spoke of the program to build 38 new polytechnics and re-equip and modernize oanother 270 existing ones with a bidding process of more than RD$5 billion now started.
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Presidency
Noticias SIN
Diario Libre
20 October 2022