Ministry of Education Calls for

Ministry of Education Calls for Social Consultation for Curricular Revision
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 3/9/2012

The Ministry of Education (MINERD in Spanish) is calling for a National Meeting for Social Consultation for Curricular Revision to be held on Wednesday March 21st. It has invited representatives from different sectors around the country to make proposals for updating the current curriculum. The call for consultation is part of the process initiated under a mandate from the National Council on Education.

Deputy Minister Vincent also pointed out that implementation of the curriculum, revised and updated, will be introduced gradually and according to advances made in redesigning the curriculum within each level and sub-system.

Organization of the Revision Day was a decided at a meeting held in preparation for the consultation in which the 18 Regional Education Directors and other Directors from various departments within MINERD all participated. This meeting was headed by the Minister of Education, Josefina Pimentel.

To stress the importance of the activity, which will be held simultaneously in the 18 Regional Offices, Minister Pimentel said educational authorities are calling for this meeting in March as part of a mandate from the National Council on Education, an organ of the Education System. The curricular revision process must be finished in 2013.

Minister Pimentel added that, “schools cannot wait and society is demanding quality education and results. For that reason, it is important to take advantage of this moment when society has shown an interest in participating in the process of improving Dominican education.”.

She affirmed that leadership of regional directors and the capacity of educational authorities to rally support for the event will be the key to its success.

Minerva Vincent, Deputy Minister for Technical and Pedagogical Services, pointed to the technical phase of the process, in which commissions of experts in curriculum and different areas of science will get involved. There will also be experts in technology and general, national and foreign culture. And, most importantly, teachers and experts with experience in the management of updated curriculum, will study the suggested proposals and assess their pedagogical viability with the goal of undertaking a coherent curricular revision that responds to the demands of society in terms of information and knowledge as presented in an equitable and high quality perspective.

Deputy Minister Vincent also pointed out that implementation of the curriculum, revised and updated, will be introduced gradually and according to advances made in redesigning the curriculum within each level and sub-system.

It was established that in each session of the meeting of the National Day for Social Consultation for Curricular Revision, 100 representatives from various organizations will be invited. They will come from civil society organizations, institutions related to education, government and non-governmental organizations, among others.

Present at every regional meeting, there will be a member from the National Council on Education, representatives from MINERD and/or a member of the national or corresponding local educational authorities.