Education in the Dominican Republic- Background

The Dominican Republic has the worst education system in the entire Western Hemisphere. Even the education system in Haiti is more effective, for those fortunate enough to attend school. In a 2008 study, the DR ranked dead last in Math, Reading and Science, with a significant lag behind 16 other Latin American countries in the study (UNESCO, SERCE 2008).

A typical public school in the Dominican Republic

Across the entire Dominican Republic, students in public schools attend school for only four hours a day- either in the morning or the afternoon. However due to late starts, early dismissals, cancellations due to rain, and an immense amount of free time, students on average receive only 2.4 hours of "instruction" a day.

School is often cancelled or let out early due to rain

I say "instruction" because there is little to no teaching going on. Teachers usually arrive late to school. They often leave the classroom unattended for large amounts of time throughout the day. Walking through a public school in Monte Cristi, you often wonder where the teachers even are. You pass by classrooms of unattended children, and then you may eventually stumble on a group of teachers seated outside in the shade, discussing the latest gossip while their students wreak havoc in the classrooms. I have walked by classrooms and had students beg me to come teach them something. When I ask what exactly they would like me to teach, the usual answer is "anything!" Sometimes teachers fail to show up all together. Since it is the teacher's responsibility to find and pay their own substitute, the students are almost always left without any teacher. Sometimes the principal will allow the students to stay in the classroom and have free time all day. Other times the students are simply told to go home.

Students left unattended in the classroom

When the teacher is in the room, usually he or she writes sentences on the board for students to copy. Although this is perhaps a 10 minute exercise, students may be given up to an hour to complete this task, resulting in complete chaos when they have all finished. In math, students often copy example problems or a series of numbers off the board. Often they are given tedious exercises to complete, such as writing the numbers 4,000 to 10,000, counting by 3's. In a recent algebra class, students were told to copy an example off the board of how to solve algebraic equations. No instruction. No explanation. One example, and then several homework problems. Then move on to another topic the next day.

Homework also involves completing tedious exercises, such as writing numbers 2,000 to 4,000 counting by 2's, etc. In social science, homework usually involves copying a page or two straight out of the outdated textbook into their notebooks. On other occasions, students must memorize several paragraphs from these textbooks to deliver to the teacher word-for-word.

My hope is to help provide educational opportunities to the students in Monte Cristi.