In the Dominican Republic, the level of enrollment of secondary school students in vocational technical training is 7.7% compared to the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, whose rate is around 20%.
The data is contained in the report of the Senate Finance Commission that studied the loan contract for US$70 million, negotiated with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which will finance the project to transform high schools in polytechnics. The plan will have a counterpart that will be financed by the State, through the Ministry of Educationwhich exceeds RD$2,000 million.
The program “Improvement of Education and Vocational Technical Training and Arts”, which seeks to transform 41 high schools with general exit support (IDB) and 38 with resources from the Ministry of Educationaims to close the gap that keeps the Dominican Republic below the level of enrollment of secondary school students in vocational technical training.
Professional technical education is currently taught in 204 centers distributed throughout the national territory, of which 122 are public and 33 of them exclusively offer the modality at the private level.
Of the 48 high schools financed with the resources of the IDB39 will be in the professional technical modality and 9 in the arts modality and it is expected to benefit 2,800 students.
The goal of the program is to expand and modernize the offer, through investments in infrastructure, equipment and teacher training; strengthen applied research and innovation; and promote links with the world of work.
Support will be focused on high schools with proximity to the sectors with the greatest current or projected generation of jobs: free zones, tourist and industrial zones.
MInerd will invest more than RD$2,000 million
The Ministry of Education It has not yet reported the cost of the transformation of the 38 high schools to polytechnics that will be done with State resources, but in its Annual Operating Plan for 2022 it states that there will be 48 centers that will be changed with an investment of RD$1,848,139,566.03.
According to the document posted on the Minerd website, this figure does not include the construction of the building where the Research and Innovation Center will function and its equipment, for which an amount of RD$359,679,536.24 is recorded.
According to the project, the center will promote applied research and innovation and, through this, contribute to improving the quality of Professional Technical and Arts Education, and its ability to train students who can be successful in a changing labor market. and intensive in the use of new technologies.
For the changes that will be made to the high schools, the contracting and preparation of the structural, electrical, sanitary and specific technical plans for the construction of workshops is foreseen as part of the project to convert the high schools to polytechnics. 32.70% workshop equipment RD$319,778,783.22.
In order to advance 40% construction of the project’s workshops, an expense of RD$715,462,881.96 is estimated and for corrective maintenance to the educational centers, RD$299,999,999.94 was allocated.
RD$83,521,579.75 will be invested to ensure that monitors and facilitators know the methodologies of the National Institute for Professional Technical Training (Infotep), and to train professional technical entities in the pedagogical use of technologies, planning and evaluation under the competencies and skills approach. soft skills and to hire technical advice for the description of the preparation of technical specifications, distribution of equipment and operation manual of the equipment of the workshops will be allocated RD$4,965,509.04;
The contract of IDB establishes that for the execution of the Program the Minerd will act through the Office of International Cooperation and the Infotep through its Planning office.
Each polytechnic is focused on exits, which are 75 optional training areas for beneficiary students. These outlets are grouped into 17 professional families, which are Health, Physical and Sports Activities, Audiovisual and Graphics, Safety and Environment, Tourism and Hospitality, IT and Communications, Agriculture, Maritime-Fishing, and Pharmaceutical and Chemical Industry, Sociocultural Services and Community, Personal Image, Construction and Mining, Manufacturing, Installation and Maintenance, Administration and Commerce, Textile, Clothing and Leather, Wood and Furniture, as well as Electricity and Electronics.
