Dominican Initiative for Quality Education Makes Recommendations

Dominican Initiative for Quality Education Makes Recommendations
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 12/9/2012

Professionals gathered around the worktables of the Dominican Initiative for Quality Education (IDEC in Spanish) concluded their discussions of the ten topics covered by representatives from government, civil society institutions, members of the profession and international organizations who are meeting here to search for solutions to the problems facing the educational sector and to promote quality education.

“The adaptation of new concepts that have been developed for the learning processes and their implications for teaching seek to give direction to the new proposal and to define the legal and technical aspects that assure their implementation in the schools. This process is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education,”…

Another objective of IDEC is to create a unique mechanism with which those involved in the system, donors and Dominican society at large can monitor and be guaranteed that the increased education budget is reflected in improved and quality learning. Recommendations included a revision and updating of the curriculum so that it responds to the requirements of the courses and to society. This was an initiative put forward by the group that worked on Curricular Development, Management of Knowledge and Quality Evaluation.

“The adaptation of new concepts that have been developed for the learning processes and their implications for teaching seek to give direction to the new proposal and to define the legal and technical aspects that assure their implementation in the schools. This process is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education,” was one of the conclusions set forth by the group.

Meanwhile, members at the working meetingalso discussed Development of the Teaching Career. In view of the great importance of this topic, they decided to concentrate on teacher certification and training and put forward three monitoring actions and proposals: the elaboration of Teacher Certification Rules, an automated system of teacher certification and a continued education and training process for teachers.

Likewise, the working group that analyzed actions for compliance of the academic year suggested involving the family and community in the educational process and management. The group proposed that by the end of the 2016 school year, all schools should have completed everything in the official academic calendar.

“The policy planning of Comprehensive Attention to Early Education has been conceived as a proposal from the perspective of comprehensive, inter-sectorial and inter-institutional focus between the Ministry of Education and other institutions focused on early childhood learning. The medium-term goal is to educate 100% of the population of five-year-olds and advance in defining education policies for those under five,” stated a document presented by the working group, Early Stimulation and Primary Education.

Other proposed objectives for this area include broadening the coverage of early education (3 to 5-year-olds) and increasing it from its current levels of 35% up to 66%, giving priority to poor families and communities.

At the meeting, IDEC also releasedthe results reached by the working group, Coverage and Quality of Middle School Education and Technical Professional Training. Their report suggested, as a priority,increasing the net coverage of middle school and the quality of education in the three modalities of this level as well as implementing the national framework that deals with professional qualifications.

By the same token, in their analysis of teen and adult reading and education levels, members of the working group proposed that there mustbe a significant lowering of illiteracy levels – a drop of at least 80,000 people semiannually over the coming four years.

To achieve this objective, they are proposing to establish a “framework for collaboration between organizations in civil society and the Ministry of Education (MINERD) to guarantee the creation of some 7,200 learning centers semiannually for the time period cited for the implementation of the program.”

In terms of school building infrastructure, priorities and actions circulated around the suitable planning processes for design, building, supervision and maintenance including rehabilitating, expanding and adding new classrooms to facilitate plans for extended school days.

“Understanding that the space of a school that combines physical and adequate environmental conditions that contribute to the development of learning must develop proposals and solutions in accordance with the Design Regulation of School Buildings Department as established in the plans and goal of the MINERD,” concluded the School Infrastructure working group.

The group that dealt with Support Policies for Students in Vulnerable Conditions and Institutional Modernization proposed drawing up a map of dynamic and multidimensional vulnerability. The goal would be to reach 85% of the population identified to be in this situation by January 30, 2016 and to reach 65% by January 30, 2014.

They proposed strengthening the petition and accounting systems as well as the information system. They called on the MINERD to guarantee the selection of the best applicants, extending civil service test to other levels and modalities.

The final products of this process, which began last October 30th, were presented at an IDEC meeting in which the work plan was approved and would be concluded with the launch of the initiative put forward by President Danilo Medina.

The IDEC meeting was directed by MINERD’s Deputy Minister for Technical Services, Minerva Vincent; Deputy Minister for Educational Planning, engineer Victor Sánchez and Ms. Laura S. Abreu.

MINERD’s Deputy Minister for Technical Services, Minerva Vincent, speaking to participants at the IDEC work meeting.