Spain’s Minister of Cooperation Jesus Gracia has announced that his country would be helping the Dominican government to strengthen teacher-training programs, as part of government plans to improve the quality of public education in the country, the Presidency reports. Gracia met with President Danilo Medina at the Presidential palace yesterday, Thursday 7 February.
He said the cooperation would mainly consist of training public school teachers, but work would also be done on curriculum and teaching of Spanish, mathematics and sciences. He said that teachers from Spain would travel to the DR and that funds for sending Dominican teachers to Spain would also be available. He said that distance-learning programs are also being considered.
Gracia visited after President Medina’s requested Spanish government support for teacher training while in Spain to attend the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of Government in Cadiz last year. He added that this year’s Spanish government aid program would be worth EUR42 million, but this sum also includes contributions towards water and sanitation, infrastructure and institutional strengthening programs.
He added that Spain would lobby for the Dominican Republic to remain eligible for international funding for development projects despite being categorized as a middle-income economy.
Gracia spoke of the “excellent bilateral relations and investment climate in the country, especially for tourism investment.”
Spanish Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations and Cooperation Pablo Gomez and Rafael Carrazo, the Ambassador of Spain in the DR also attended the meeting, as well as Jaime Lacadena Higuera and counselor minister for the Spanish embassy Sofia Ruiz del Arbol. The Dominican government was represented by Presidency Minister Gustavo Montalvo, Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso and Deputy Minister Jose Manuel Trullols.