The Dominican Association of Teachers (ADP) removed from its ranks the two teachers accused of raping a 13-year-old minor at the La Syria school, in the Quisqueya municipality, in San Pedro de Macorís.
Eduardo Hidalgo, president of the union, said that “the ADP “will never support or accept, under any circumstances, any act that affects the physical and mental integrity of boys and girls in Dominican public schools.”
The union leader asked Justice for a “thorough and rigorous” investigation of the complaint against the educators and to guarantee due process to the accused, after repudiating the fact.
Hidalgo spoke at the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected members of the National Executive Committee, the Disciplinary Court and the Council of Commissioners of the ADP, for the period 2024-2027.
Hidalgo added that the teachers union “does not sit idly by in the face of events like this.”
“The two accused teachers have been automatically suspended as members of the ADP, until justice concludes and guarantees them due process,” said the president of the union.
“In the case of the municipality of Quisqueya, with all the responsibility that characterizes us, we strongly condemn and repudiate the reported sexual violation against a girl from the La Syria Educational Center,” he insisted.
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She took advantage of the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to request that all types of violence in the country’s educational centers be confronted and reported.
He said that teachers must make every effort from the classrooms and from any teaching space to raise awareness and act to prevent violence against women, in all its manifestations “and not only confront it, but also report it in a timely manner.”
In that order, Hidalgo announced the creation of a multidisciplinary working group to address, from a comprehensive perspective, the social problems of violence, sexual harassment, bullying; boys, girls, adolescents, young people and adults who are sexually abused or who are victims of physical and/or psychological violence in Dominican schools.
He indicated that the objective of this initiative is to review the action protocols, improve processes and act preventively in these cases.
He affirmed that he will “immediately” call the Attorney General’s Office, the Ministry of Education, the Estancia Foundation, UN WOMEN, the Ministry of Women and the national universities and journalists’ unions to participate in this working group. lawyers and doctors, among other institutions.
