Santo Domingo, DR.- The Juan Pablo Duarte Teachers’ Union has registered its proposal for the executive direction of the Dominican Association of Teachers (ADP) in the October 9 elections with the National Electoral Commission, with Professor Miguel Ángel Fernández as presidential candidate.
Along with Fernández, the following aspire to lead the ADP: Professor Menegildo de la Rosa (vice-presidency), Miguelina Estévez (presidency of the National Disciplinary Tribunal), Professor Félix Rodríguez (presidency of the National Council of Commissioners), in addition to teachers Rafael Feliz, Juan Núñez, Vladimir Guzmán and other senior leaders of the movement.
In their union management program for the period 2024-2027, the candidates of the Juan Pablo Duarte party commit to work to put the ADP at the service of the teaching profession and to improve the well-being of the country’s public schools, removing political-electoral interests that affect the functions of the teachers’ union.
Professor Miguel Ángel Fernández explained that Juan Pablo Duarte will be dedicated to carrying out a democratic management of broad participation of teachers in the institutional development of the ADP and in the fight for well-being in school; for the respect and dignity of teachers; defense of public education and the teaching career; defense and strengthening of social security for teachers (improvement of SEMMA and fullness of the functions of INABIMA).
They also propose a professional salary that corresponds to the basic basket of goods and services and the cultural basket of every practicing professional (data, devices, books, magazines, participation in national and international events). They will fight to free teachers’ salaries from income tax, improve pensions and provide health care for active and retired workers.
They also stated that they will not accept that any teacher pays a substitute, since Resolution No. 43-2019 that creates the substitute bank must be complied with; they will also demand compliance with Ordinance 2-2019 on teaching hours, rest hours and planning hours at school. Among their demands is the Sabbatical Year, which consists of freeing all teachers from academic or school workload every 10 years of uninterrupted work, with pay, for rest, study, research and pedagogical production.
«Teachers will go to class on Monday in hundreds of schools in deplorable conditions due to the inability of the authorities to develop a maintenance plan in a timely manner. We will begin the school year leaving more than 300 thousand children of 3, 4 and 5 years of age in the initial level outside the right to education, overcrowded classrooms in primary and secondary schools in large urban centers, and in provinces such as Higuey, where more than 3 thousand children and young people have been left on a waiting list due to a lack of classrooms, with schools yet to be completed,» said Miguel Ángel Fernández.
