The Coalicion Digna got out its trademark yellow umbrellas outside the Presidential Palace yesterday, Thursday 4 July, to protest the government’s failure to disburse so far the 4% pledged for education for the half year mark. The Coalition, which is campaigning for the government to fulfill the law that establishes that 4% of GDP should be allocated to pre-university public education, says that the government is RD$3.85 billion short of meeting the allocations to the Ministry of Education as set out in the 2013 National Budget.
The Ministry of Education says that the assignments for the first half of the year were satisfactory, and that most of the disbursements will be made at the start of the school year that corresponds with the second semester of the year. As reported in Diario Libre, the Ministry says that there have been tenders for 400,000 school desks, purchase of uniforms, textbooks and school repairs, and that 7,000 teachers have been appointed. The Ministry also says that the 13th Christmas wage is also paid in the second part of the year.