Technical Team of National Literacy Organization Holds its First Work Meeting

Technical Team of National Literacy Organization Holds its First Work Meeting
Santo Domingo, DominicanRepublic 9/19/2012

Minister of Education, Josefina Pimentel, headed up the first technical team work meeting for the National Plan for QuisqueyaLiteracy – Learning with You program, which is expected to get underway in January of next year.

The technical team was designated by PresidentDanilo Medina through Decree 546-12, which recognizes the contributions of different social sectors of society and contemplates strengthening alliances with the goal of developing the Quisqueya(Dominican) Learning with You Plan…

Doctor Pedro Luis Castellanos, director general of Special Program of the Presidency and coordinator of the technical team was present at the meeting. Others at the meeting advanced the preparations of the operations plan, which must be presented to the National Literary Commission in no less than three months, starting with the launch of the National Literacy Plan, this past September 10.

The technical team was designated by PresidentDanilo Medina through Decree 546-12, which recognizes the contributions of different social sectors of society and contemplates strengthening alliances with the goal of developing the Quisqueya(Dominican) Learning with You Plan, which seeks to eradicate illiteracy in the country.

Minister Pimentel said the task of this team is of great relevance and she reaffirmed thesupport of the Ministry of Education (MINERDin Spanish) wherever necessary.

She stressed the large number of institutions and public and private organizations interested in participating in the project. “There is clearly a lot of enthusiasm and motivation, but also, it is an enormous task that requires high levels of organization and coordination and MINERD is fully prepared to assume this challenge,” said Minister Pimentel.

She added that they have created Facebook and Twitter pages to get the word out and have added a link to MINERD’s webpage where those interested in contributing and helping out with the plan can sign up.

As such, Dr.Castellanos explained that they went over all the work material in the meeting prior to the presentation of the National Literacy Plan elaborated by the commission appointed by President Medina in the Council of Broad Government and that he handed over his report to the President last Monday, with the general outlines of the new program.

“Starting with these materials, today we are going to advance preparations of the literacy plan that must be presented to the National Literacy Commission in less than three weeks,” pointed out Dr. Castellanos.

He said that next week they will hold a workshop to complete the review of all the details of the plan so as to be able to present it on time.

“These measures indicate that there is a great impact on public opinion. What we have to do now is to reorganize so that this will be effective and yield the results we are seeking,” said Castellanos.

He stressed the commitment to undertake a literacy campaign by Januaryand clarified that, in addition to training or teaching, there are many other ways to contribute and participate in the campaign.

The technical team will be in charge of registering the institutions and people who wish to take part in the plan using the strategies that are defined.

At the meeting, held in one of the MINERD halls, Dr. Castellanossaidthere is a great deal of determination and enthusiasm to get involved and help. He added that the literacy process for each person learning to read will take from 4 to 6 months in several sessions per week.

The technical team of the National Literary Commission is made up of Dr. Pedro Luis Castellanos, Director General of Special Programs of the Presidency; Rafael González, Deputy Minister of Higher Education; Miriam Camilo, Director General of Education for Youth and Adults; Matías Bosch and Angela Rodríguez, from the Office of International Cooperation and Deolegario Tapia, Deputy Director of Education for Youth and Adults.

Education Minister, Josefina Pimentel, speaking at the technical team meeting of the National Literacy Commission, the National Plan for Quisqueya Literacy – Learning with You program. From left to right: Pedro Luis Castellanos, Director General of Special Programs of the Presidency; Rafael González, Deputy Minister of Higher Education; Luis E. Holguín, Advisor toDeolegario TapiaDeputy Director of Education for Youth and Adults of MINERD; Matías Bosch andÁngela Rodríguez, from the Office of International Cooperation and Miriam Camilo, Director General of Education for Youth and Adults