He Ministry of Education (Minerd) plan to inaugurate 69 projects between September and December 2024, of which eight are completed, according to a document provided by the School Infrastructure directorate of this institution.
The works include the inauguration of 35 primary schools, 11 secondary schools, 14 nursery schools, two polytechnics, and five covered fields in educational centers, a high school and an initial educational center, with an investment of more than 5.7 billion weights.
The document explains that some of the works belong to the provinces, Santo Domingo, Santiago, San Juan, San Pedro de Macorís, Puerto Plata, Montecristi, Duarte, Espaillat, La Romana, La Altagracia, El Seibo, Samaná, Dajabón, Independencia, La Vega, Monte Plata, Barahona, San Cristóbal, Azua, Valverde and Santiago Rodríguez.
The investment in primary schools alone amounts to 3,360,992,831.73 pesos, while in secondary schools it is equivalent to 1,040,481,522.89 pesos.
Fernando Taveras, director of Infrastructure of the ministry, added that a budget of approximately 10,000 million pesos was assigned for the schools that are planned to be built in 2025. In another projections report, the management establishes that 266 schools would be delivered next year, while by 2026, there would be 66.
Likewise, he indicated that they are building schools to meet the demand for classrooms based on the study carried out by the Vice Ministry of Planning and Development, in which the deficit by demarcation is determined.
“We are also completing works that were unfinished in the last government, which must be finished however we want,” Taveras explained.
In this sense, he said that the projected delivery of schools may vary due to different factors linked to the contractors to whom the work is awarded, or to the time in which the budget to work is delivered.
“Contractors take up to two or three months to receive their money, so that’s why they lose their rhythm. The problem is that the process becomes so distressing, that’s why you see many abandoned schools that start working and then stop,” express.
He indicated that the priority is that there is availability of classrooms, which is why they often deliver the campuses with the classrooms ready, although later they must deliver the dining room or the finished fields.
