Education Ministry to Promote a Culture of Peace in an Effort to Reduce School Violence in 2012

Education Ministry to Promote a Culture of Peace in an Effort to Reduce School Violence in 2012
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 1/6/2012

The Office of Orientation, Psychology and Attention to Diversity of the Ministry of Education (MINERD in Spanish) will concentrate its efforts this year, 2012, on strengthening teaching, behavioral and psycho-social risk prevention strategies with the goal of supporting, jointly with the educational community, the comprehensive development of students who are seeking adequate learning environments.

As part of these efforts including the goal of promoting a culture of peace in the schools from an inclusive focus, a Mediation and Alternative Conflict Resolution project will get underway in January and February in the junior high schools of Santo Domingo’s regional school districts 10 and 15.

As part of these efforts including the goal of promoting a culture of peace in the schools from an inclusive focus, a Mediation and Alternative Conflict Resolution project will get underway in January and February in the junior high schools of Santo Domingo’s regional school districts 10 and 15.

This plan was an initiative of the Public Ministry which is functioning under the MINERD through an agreement in which participants are committed to creating a space in the schools for the prevention and solution of conflicts through the use of pacific methods, in keeping with the goal of reducing school violence. These conflict resolution teams will be made up of students who will serve as models for their peers.

Likewise, in the first semester of this year, the first phase of the Youth Development and Prevention of Violence project will begin under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in four elementary and junior high schools in Greater Santo Domingo. The second phase seeks to extend the coverage to a larger number of schools in this same area.

The goal of this project is to reduce the levels of school and community violence with the progressive opening of public places that can be used as cultural, recreational, sports and training centers to serve the entire community during the days, or longer periods, when school is not in session as a way of promoting a culture of peace, inclusion and tolerance. 

Beginning in January 2012, the Office of Orientation, Psychology and Attention to Diversity will undertake a series of training and recreational programs throughout the entire country in which they will examine teaching, behavioral and psycho-social risk prevention strategies directed at 10,000 teachers and 4,000 orientation trainers, psychologists, and assistants. The goal of these programs is to support and promote the continued improvement and quality of education.  In addition, materials and guidebooks on the subject matter will be made available to schools.

The topics that will be prioritized for these training sessions include: follow-up for application and validation of school discipline norms and behavior, detection, assistance and prevention of learning disabilities and difficulties, psychological and practical support in cases of emergency and disaster and sex education strategies.

Along these same lines, the program is working to develop youth leadership qualities that are focused on the promotion of values, identification with capacities and intervention, management and application of strategies found in the Drug Prevention Manual as well as strategies for organizing free time, techniques and study habits as well as reinforcing the student merit recognition program, among other programs.

To reach these goals, there will be four separate training programs – one per trimester, throughout the country, directed at regional and district professionals in the areas of Orientation, Psychology and Attention to Diversity with the goal of strengthening planning, monitoring and follow-up in the classroom

The Education Ministry´s goal is to promote the development of a culture of peace and harmony in the schools