The Ministry of Education opens Santa Lucía elementary school in Boca Chica

The Ministry of Education opens Santa Lucía elementary school in Boca Chica
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, 25/07/2011

The Minister of Education, Josefina Pimentel, inaugurated Santa Lucia School, in the village of Boca Chica. The school was built with resources from the Cerrando Brechas (Closing Gaps) project, and cost RD$28,811,447.26. It will benefit 770 elementary school level children.

“We ask you, to take full advantage of this new area for education and personal advancement. Let us keep growing this project so that each and every child in this beautiful and hardworking community can maximize his/her abilities, and contribute to national progress”,

This project is part of the school inauguration program, which will open over 40 schools throughout the country. The program began on June 10 of this year and will conclude before the start of the next school year.

The Santa Lucía school has 11 classrooms, as well as one First Education room, designed for infants. This room has a private bathroom, a full kitchen, a technological corner, a play area and in it, infants will be separated from older children.

The new educational building also has an administrative center, with areas for teachers, personnel and school resources, as well as a kitchen destined for the storage, preparation, handling and distribution of the School Breakfast.

The school has a half size field for basketball and volleyball, a dual drinking water supply which connects to the local water pipeline, but also has submersible pump that guarantees a permanent supply, from a tank with an internal distribution system which feeds from integrated water tanks.

The school landscaping not only improves the aesthetics of its facade, but also helps preserve the natural environment. There is also a civic area, where students, teachers and administrative staff can participate in patriotic acts. A mesh fence circles the perimeter, providing added security for students, teachers, directors and support staff.

During the opening of the educational center, the Minister of Education said that the Ministry will continue to work non-stop, so that the school system of the Dominican Republic can have an adequate infrastructure.

Therefore, she said, these school buildings must be lovingly cared for by directors, teachers, students, parents and friends, as they are valuable resources that benefit this generation, as well as others to come.

“We ask you, to take full advantage of this new area for education and personal advancement. Let us keep growing this project so that each and every child in this beautiful and hardworking community can maximize his/her abilities, and contribute to national progress”, said Mrs. Pimentel.
Providing dignified school areas is one of the components of MINERD’s management axes, with a focus on quality. Its aim is the building, repair and maintenance of as many classrooms as are required to create adequate educational environments, and supply them with sufficient and diverse equipment, media and materials for the promotion of quality learning.

Through the General Direction for School Buildings (Dirección  General  de Edificaciones  Escolares) and with funding from the central Government, the World Bank, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IBD), the MINERD is currently building over 250 schools.

In the near future, the following centers will be opening: Salomé Ureña, with a cost of RD$34,088,321.46 which will benefit 630 intermediate level students, in Santo Domingo province; Divina Misericordia, in the Los Guaricanos sector; Evaristo Brito Reyes and Mi Bandera, in Los Alcarrizos; Genoveva Guridi, in Mendoza, and San Felipe, in Villa Mella.

The Ministry will also inaugurate educational centers in Jackeline Lima, in Bonao; El Túnel, in Navarrete as well as others in Barahona, Mao and Baní. The 22 schools opening in the near future, will bring the total of new schools opened before the start of the 2011-2012 school year to 42.

In addition, the bidding process for the building or repair of another group of schools in Santo Domingo and Boca Chica is in progress.
Present at the inaugural act were the vice minister for School Buildings, William Sifres; province governor, Idelfonso Vásquez; senator Cristina Lizardo; a representative for La Caleta, Jesús Mercedes; Director of Regional 10, Argentina Henríquez; Director of School District 10-05, Francisca Ferreira; the principal of the Escuela Básica Santa Lucía, Miladis Sánchez and Father Fermín Fermín, parish priest at La Caleta, who blessed the building.

Minister of Education, Mrs. Josefina Pimentel, as she cuts the tape in the inaugural act at Escuela Básica Santa Lucía. She is joined by provincial governor Idelfonso Vásquez, senator Cristina Lizardo; school principal, Miladis Sánchez; and the vice minister for School Construction, William Sifres.