Dominican Republic SOCIAL WELFARE
Education
Student in computer science class, Santo Domingo
Courtesy Inter-American Development Bank
Formal education included the primary, the secondary,
and
higher education levels. The six-year primary cycle was
compulsory. Three years of preschool were offered in some
areas,
but not on a compulsory basis. There were several types of
secondary school; most students (90 percent) attended the
sixyear liceo, which awarded the bachillerato
certificate upon completion and was geared toward
university
admission. Other secondary programs included teacher
training
schools, polytechnics, and vocational schools. All primary
and
secondary schools were under the formal jurisdiction of
the
Secretariat of State for Education and Culture (Secretaria
de
Estado de Educación y Cultura). In 1984 there were an
estimated
5,684 primary schools and 1,664 secondary schools.
Despite the compulsory nature of primary education,
only 17
percent of rural schools offered all six grades. This
explained
to some degree the lower levels of secondary enrollment.
For
those who did go on to the secondary level, academic
standards
were low, the drop-out rate reportedly was high, and all
but the
poorest students had to buy their textbooks--another
disincentive
to enrollment for many.
The government decreed major curriculum reforms at the
primary and secondary levels in the 1970s in an effort to
render
schooling more relevant to students' lives and needs.
Expanded
vocational training in rural schools was called for as
part of
the reforms. Few changes had been fully implemented by the
early
1980s, however. Primary school teachers were trained in
specialized secondary schools; the universities trained
secondary-school teachers. In 1982, however, roughly half
of all
teachers lacked the required academic background. A
chronic
shortage of teachers was attributable to low pay
(especially in
rural areas), the relatively low status of teaching as a
career,
and an apparent reluctance among men to enter the
profession.
Education expanded at every level in the post-Trujillo
era.
Enrollment as a proportion of the primary school-aged
population
grew by more than twenty percentage points between the
mid-1960s
and the mid-1980s, and that of the secondary school-aged
population nearly quadrupled. By the mid-1980s, the
primary
school population was virtually fully enrolled, but only
45
percent of those of secondary school age were enrolled.
Problems accompanied educational expansion. Teaching
materials and well-maintained facilities were lacking at
every
level. Salaries and operational expenses took up most of
the
education budget, leaving little surplus for additional
investment and growth. In addition, although an estimated
74
percent of the population was literate in 1986, the
expansion of
educational programs and facilities left a sizable backlog
of
illiterates largely untouched. Although there were some
programs
in adult literacy, in 1981 fully one-third of the
population over
twenty-five years of age had never attended school; in
some rural
areas the proportion rose to half (see
table 3, Appendix
A).
Higher education enjoyed the most spectacular growth.
At
Trujillo's death there was one university, the University
of
Santa Domingo (Universidad de Santo Domingo), with roughly
3,500
students. By the late 1980s, there were more than
twenty-six
institutions of higher education with a total enrollment
of over
120,000 students. Legislation created the National Council
of
Higher Education (Consejo Nacional de Educación
Superior--CONES)
in 1983 to deal with issues surrounding accreditation, the
awarding of degrees, and the coordination of programs on a
national level.
The sole public institution was the Autonomous
University of
Santo Domingo (Universidad Autónoma de Santo
Domingo--UASD). The
UASD traced its lineage directly to the Universitas Santi
Dominici, established in 1538. Although the university's
administration was autonomous, the government provided all
of its
funding. This enabled the UASD to offer courses free of
charge to
all enrolled students. The student body reached
approximately
100,000 in 1984. The leading private institutions were the
Catholic University Mother and Teacher (Universidad
Católica
Madre y Maestra--UCMM), located in Santiago and
administered by
the Roman Catholic Church, and the Pedro Henríquez Ureña
National
University (Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez
Ureña--UNPHU) in
Santo Domingo. In the early 1980s, UCMM had a student body
of
approximately 5,000, while UNPHU enrolled approximately
10,000.
Enrollment in private schools also expanded during the
postTrujillo era. Private schools, most of them operated by
the Roman
Catholic Church, enjoyed a reputation for academic
superiority to
public schools. By the 1970s, they appeared to be the
preferred
educational option for the urban middle class.
Data as of December 1989
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