Santo Domingo, RD. The game Force of the people (FP), through its Ministry of Education, warned that the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year is in critical conditions, ensuring that school schoolchildren in the country “They are not ready to receive students,” A few days after classes start.
The complaint was made by the former Minister of Education and current Secretary of Education of the Force of the People, Josefina Pimentel, during a press conference held at the House of the Johnny Ventura town, where he said that the improvisation and the lack of planning of the government of PRM Not only do they compromise the quality of teaching, but also put at risk the safety of teachers and students in dozens of deteriorated schools.
According to the document read by Pimentel, the national scene shows a worrying amount of schools in poor condition, with cracks, leaks, damaged bathrooms and unfinished constructions that force students to receive teaching in inappropriate conditions, improvising with mobile classrooms, Contramadas or divisions with cardboard.
Among the cases mentioned are the Manuel María Castillo Polytechnic in San Francisco de Macorís, the José del Carmen Báez School in San Juan de la Maguana and the Regina Camilo Liceo in Tenares, all at risk of collapse or operating without basic services. In Higüey, the Don Pedro Tapia school has been under construction for more than eight years, while in Azua, the students of the Deysi Margarita school take classes under a bower.
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The FP Secretary of Education added examples of other locations that describe the magnitude of the problem. In Villa Hermosa, La Romana, the Joaquín Balaguer school presents obstructed bathrooms and leaks that prevent minimal hygienic conditions. While in the Arroyo Middle District, in Nagua, the El Drago Elementary School had to divide its classrooms with cardboard and lift an impromptu ranche to accommodate excess students.
Another alarming case is that of the Polytechnic Juan de la Cruz Abad, in the Guaricans, where the students were forced to receive teaching in rented and even virtual for the existing overpopulation and the lack of classrooms. “This is a clear sample of how the lack of planning directly hits the right to education of our young people,” Pimentel emphasized.
In her presentation, the opposition leader said that this situation represents a latent danger. “It is inconceivable that at this point there are schools with roofs about to collapse, obstructed bathrooms, lack of drinking water or students forced to receive classes in half -building buildings. The life and safety of thousands of children and teachers is at risk,” he warned.
When presenting the official position of the force of the people in front of the start of the school year, Pimentel recalled that, despite the great investment in education in recent years, the Government has not guaranteed a serious maintenance and school construction plan. “500 billion pesos have been handled in a billion in five years, and even so, schools remain without decent conditions,” says the statement.
Similarly, the former Minister of Education warned about the lack of sufficient teachers to address curricular areas and the initial level, a lack that directly affects thousands of families who trust schools for the training and care of their children. He recalled that President Abinader himself had promised to integrate 15 thousand children from three to five years of initial education, a goal that today is still not fulfilled due to lack of planning and forecast.
The FP Secretary of Education also questioned the lack of management capacity of the Government, remembering that since 2022 President Abinader has been announcing the expansion of coverage for children aged 3 to 5 years and early childhood. However, despite its repeated promises, the measure has had to be postponed several times, since the government itself recognized that there are no logistics or structural conditions to carry it out.
Pimentel also stressed that approximately two months ago, teachers organized in the teaching force had asked the Ministry of Education to take all the necessary forecasts and intervene schools nationwide, to avoid the crisis that is lived today. During the holiday period, the teaching force made simultaneous civic stops in different provinces such as a call for government attention. However, despite the sufficient time to act, the authorities did not intervene the schools, which has led to the current state of deterioration of the educational system.
In that sense, the former head of the Ministry of Education urged society to demand that education be assumed as a true state agenda and is placed as national priority. “As our schools are, this will be our country; and only through education we can guarantee a decent future for our children and young people,” he concluded.
