16 of the 20 entities that were named to the National Oversight Committee appointed by the Ministry of Education to oversee the contest to choose 19,000 public school teachers have resigned. Those who resigned sent a letter to Education Minister Roberto Fulcar indicating they did not receive the numbers or data they needed to carry out their role. The committee members say they were not given access or adequate conditions to carry out field work. Not even the calendar of the tests were sent to the contest observers.
Diario Libre reports that meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has been naming “temporary” teachers to the posts, parallel to the contest.
Those resigning are: Asociación de Instituciones Educativas Privadas (Ainep); Asociación Nacional de Jóvenes Empresarios (ANJE); el Centro Cultural Poveda; el Centro Juan XXIII; CIED-Humano – Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Pucmm; Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (Flacso); el Foro Socio Educativo; Iniciativa Dominicana por una Educación de Calidad (IDEC) and the Instituto Tecnológico (Intec). Also Repensar la Educación (RED); Sector Escuela Salesiana; la Universidad Iberoamericana (Unibe), the Universidad Pedro Henríquez Ureña (Unphu); World Vision and the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (Pucmm).
The oversight committee members had been appointed after the failure of a first teacher selection contest on 8 and 9 September 2021 with most of the teachers failing the standardized tests.
Education Minister Roberto Fulcar is a high-ranking member of the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM). His brother is Julito Fulcar, spokesperson for the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party in the Chamber of Deputies.
The media has been reporting on several cases of irregularities in contracting since the appointment of Fulcar as minister of Education. The Ministry of Education under Furcal is characterized by continued resistance to government controls and transparency.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
30 November 2021