Santo Domingo, DR.- The National Institute for Teacher Training and Capacity Building (Inafocam), through its Initial Training department, awarded 49 Education students for their academic excellence, during the fourth version of the Student Merit Recognition 2023-2024.
The Academic Excellence Award is designed to honor the achievements of those students who have demonstrated disciplined, sustained effort and exceptional dedication, maintained a 4.0 grade point average, and exhibited exemplary conduct and a notable connection to their university.
In this fourth edition, 49 students from various Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) were awarded for their academic performance and outstanding conduct. The winners received a commemorative plaque, as well as technological equipment that will facilitate their academic work.
During the activity, the head of the Initial Training Department of Inafocam, Bélgica Ramírez, highlighted the students’ efforts to maintain an academic level of excellence, which will guarantee the training of a teacher who will contribute to the educational quality of the Dominican Republic.
Inafocam’s executive director, Francisco Ramírez, said that the excellence program is a filter and that the students have shown that they are good and are called to contribute to the country’s development in the future.
He highlighted the evolution that the Education career has undergone and the variation in the way in which teachers teach students today, based on technology and new pedagogical tools.
“We at Inafocam will continue to strengthen the Education program, to fulfill President Luis Abinader’s promise of a better education system and the instructions in this regard from the Minister of Education, Ángel Hernández,” Ramírez added.
The Vice Minister of Teacher Certification and Accreditation of the Ministry of Education, Frank D’Oleo, stressed that the role and essence of education is for human beings to achieve their freedom and that the mission of future teachers is to ensure that children achieve their full personal and human development on the basis of quality education.
He said he hoped that the students who received the award would continue to strive for excellence throughout their lives in order to contribute to the quality of education and the development of the country.
Delfina Bravo, representing the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCYT), said that the prompt incorporation of high-quality education professionals into the educational system fills us with hope that they will take on new challenges that will mark the changes needed in the country.
Daily Pérez, Director of Education at PUCMM-Santo Domingo, stressed that each scholarship awarded by Inafocam represents an investment in the future, a commitment to the potential of our youth and a firm step towards building a more just and equitable society.
Jarielzon Florentino Payano, a student of a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics focused on Secondary Education at UCNE, said in an emotional speech that the award is not only an end, but the beginning of new goals and challenges that they will face with the same dedication and passion that led them to be recognized.
“On behalf of all the scholarship recipients, I would like to express my most sincere thanks to the Dominican government, through Inafocam, for facilitating our university education and thus contributing to the development of Dominican education,” he said.
Award details
This recognition, aligned with the National Pact for Educational Reform in the Dominican Republic, seeks to promote the improvement and permanence of students in initial training programs carried out by Inafocam.
Twelve Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) participated in this edition, covering a broad representation of the country’s higher education system.
These include the Technological Catholic University of Cibao (Ucateci), the Central University of the East (UCE), and the Pontifical Catholic Mother and Teacher University (PUCMM), the Technological University of Santiago (UTESA), the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC), and the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University.
Also the ISA University (UNISA), the UTECO University, the National Evangelical University (UNEV), the Technological Catholic University of Barahona (Ucateba), and the Northeastern Catholic University.
The award-winning students include Domingo Capellán de la Cruz, Eugenia Liao Queliz, Dorilys Batista Ramírez, Angel de Jesús Torres Perdomo, Rosa Contreras Morales, Roxxane Guzmán Curiel, Dakairi Heredia Altagracia, Laura Patricia Mordán De León and Ana Rosalda Rodríguez Hernández.
Also Ruth Esther Vera Mella, Yennauri Elías Martínez Matías, David Antonio Feliz Ferreras, Mauricio Arturo Dominici Figuereo, Jarielzon Florentino Payano, Darwin José Burgos Santiago, Yelkin Manases Correa Salazar, Jarelyne Duarte de la Cruz.
