Internal Tax Office Holds First National Student Tax Education Forum

Internal Tax Office Holds First National Student Tax Education Forum
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic  6/5/2012

A  total of 296 students from 15 provinces were selected to take part in the regional seminars prior to the main forum given by the Dominican Internal Tax Office (DGII in Spanish) in various areas around the country.

Words of welcome were given by a student chosen from the group of participants; she was followed by Dr. Mu-Kien Sang Ben who emphasized the importance of holding a national student forum to debate tax issues.

The DGII held the first National Student Tax Education Forum – “A new way of learning how to participate,” with 296 students from various provinces around the country. The seminar was a space of reflection and action that looked at the experiences of the students; it was given within the curriculum as part of a Moral and Civic Education course.

Support for the first National Student Tax Education Forum came from the Dominican Ministry of Education (MINERD in Spanish) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Santo Domingo (PUCMM) under the direction of DGII Director General, Juan Hernández. Others included the Deputy Director of DGII, Germania Montás; Dr. Mu-Kien Sang Ben, Secretary of the Consultative Council of the Civic Education Consortium and Director of the Department of Caribbean Studies at the PUCMM; Sara Güílamo, Director of the Civic Education Consortium of the PUCMM; Javier Elena, Coordinator of the Area of Social Sciences for MINERD and the Reverend Father Manuel Maza.

Words of welcome were given by a student chosen from the group of participants; she was followed by Dr. Mu-Kien Sang Ben who emphasized the importance of holding a national student forum to debate tax issues.

Then came Juan Hernández, DGII Director General who expressed satisfaction in being able to be part of this event and seeing the results of a job that was begun several years ago and that today is a definite reality.

“This is very important. It is about using the knowledge these students have acquired during the time the tax education programs have been formally implemented in the schools. Seeing this multitude of students interested in these issues and enjoying this exchange of knowledge is the source of extreme happiness for the DGII and for all of those who have worked on this project. Since the beginning, the objective was to create new human beings who are connected to the values that a fiscally responsible citizen should be. I think that with the realization of these forums we are achieving that. This is a before and after situation having to do with the commitments we honor as citizens,” explained Mr. Hernández.

The teams of students who participated in the first National Student Tax Education Forum were selected from the regional forums held in 17 provinces from different areas around the country. Among those areas were La Vega, Santiago, San Francisco de Macorís, Azua, Baní, Hermanas Mirabal, Santiago Rodríguez, Mao, Nagua, San José de Ocoa, Santo Domingo, San Cristóbal, Dajabón, Montecristi and San Pedro de Macorís.

The school forums are means of evaluating and applying the project with student participation while seeking to produce significant classroom experience linked to the development of the new curriculum for middle school education, drawn up by the Ministry of Education which seeks to develop life skills and abilities among the students.

The keynote address of the event was given by Father Manuel Maza. After that, groups of students told a panel about what they learned and what experiences they were coming away with in terms of tax education and knowledge.

Since 2006-2007, the Tax Office’s Education Department has been working with students visiting from the various public and private schools. They have been giving educational lectures and interesting presentations that reached out to some 160,000 school children. As a result of these programs, it was thought to build a larger quorum. It was during this process that the problem was detected in Dominican society and it consisted of the fact that there was a lack of understanding in knowledge among the youth of the country. Hence, the Madre y Maestra Catholic Pontifical University, the Ministry of Education and more recently the Association of Private Colleges included this Tax Education material in their civic education programs.