Santo Domingo.– el Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) warned Monday about the progressive deterioration of the education system In the last five years, which they consider, it has reached critical levels for the improvisation with which, in their opinion, the current authorities of the Ministry of Education have acted.
During a press conference headed by Melanio Paredesformer Minister of Education and member of the PLD Political Committee, a alarming reduction in public student registrationwhich went from 2,058,675 students in 2020 to only 2,003,097 in 2024.
The party attributes this descent to the Lack of planningthe bad physical conditions of the schools, the Elimination of children’s stays and the latent threat on the extended school day.
“He Educational system is going through a deep crisis that must be treated as a national emergency. Thousands of parents do not know today where to enroll their children. The mothers who had the children’s stays have had to return to the old scheme of the two batches, which represents an unacceptable setback for a public policy that had shown substantial advances in the last management, ”said Paredes.
The PLD stressed that despite the growth of the educational budget by 82 % in the last five years, going from RD $ 170.105 million in 2020 to significantly higher figures in 2024, No tangible achievements in infrastructure are perceivedteaching quality, or in learning indicators.
“Where is the education money? We do not see enough classroomsthere are no teams in schools, nor a visible improvement in teacher training, ”said the Peledeist leader.
In addition, they warned that the New School Year 2025-2026 will begin in precarious conditions for thousands of students. They cited that more than 30% of schools lack access to drinking water, many have serious structural deficiencies, and insecurity, added to the work overload of teachers, is directly affecting the quality of teaching.
The report presented by the PLD indicates that while in the 2012–2020 management more than 10,000 classrooms were built, in the last five years they have barely completed 2,915.
“Thousands of classrooms have been abandonedand an effective plan for its termination has not been presented. This paralysis in educational infrastructure seriously compromises the right to decent education, ”said Paredes.
In relation to the extended school day, the PLD denounced that the advances have been minimal. In five years, 146,107 additional students have barely incorporated, a figure that pales with 221 thousand students who were included during the previous management.
Also criticized that the government present as novelty the inclusion of children from 3 to 5 years to the school systemwhen In 2019 there was a registration of 150,553 infants of that age range in public centers.
“You cannot sell as innovation what we had already achieved,” they insisted.
Another point of concern indicated was the absence of a Teaching performance evaluationkey mechanism to measure the quality of the educational process and make evidence -based decisions.
“From 2020 no evaluation has been implemented to the teaching staff. That shows an institutional abandonment to the continuous improvement of the system,” said Paredes.
They also showed restlessness to the possible fusion of the Ministry of Education with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Mescyt), a proposal that, according to information they handle, could be introduced to Congress on August 16.
“If separate are already inefficient, can they imagine what would happen if they merge? It would be administrative and academic chaos,” the former minister warned.
PLD recommendations
Given the described panorama, the PLD proposes the creation of a National Educational Emergency Planaimed at overcoming improvisation in educational management, building and rehabilitating classrooms without sacrificing achievements such as the extended school day, and Stop the attempt for merger between the Ministries of Education and Higher Education.
It also recommends Submit to transparency all the processes of the National Institute for Student Welfare (INABIE), whose hiring have been hard questioned, implement the evaluation of teaching performance, and present a national school construction plan to complete thousands of unfinished classrooms.
