Quote:
Originally Posted by qgrande
But what about today's Dominican political elite? Do they actively and consciously underfund education and keep the Dominican population uneducated to maintain the political status quo? Or are they perhaps mildly yet genuinly interested in improving education, but end up being even more interested in filling their own pockets and spending money on projects that build short-term loyalty?
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I think the last sentence of catcherintherye's post is more accurate in regards to the DR's commitment to education. Both Leonel and Alejandrina were professors at UASD and Alejandrina was one of my wife's teachers. Yris was expecting better from both of them and has had several communications with them in regards to education. For all you that think there has been no progress you are wrong. There has been some, definitely not enough, but for example: Every school in the DR, public or private is suppose to have a vision and mission statement and a yearly project or goal for improving some aspect of education. Yris has done this unofficially for the past 15 years, Last year and this year are the first years that her school has been inspected by the ministry, with clear guidelines on what she has to have at the school, teacher's qualifications....etc. This year is also the first year that the mission statement, vision...etc had to be presented the the ministry. To me this is a good sign that the government is taking an active role to improve quality of education. One of the big problems as I see it with education in the DR is the strength of the teachers association. Many, perhaps even most people that become teachers in the DR do it because once in the public school system it is a job for life, with guaranteed pension...etc. I also see a lack of planning in the building of schools- most schools were not build for expansion...i.e no ability to put a second floor on them. With the huge population growth the governments past and present have not planned for the future. Where there is hope there is life.