Deficiencies in the education system

[NewsWhore]

According to a report released during the Global Education Forum, most students in the Dominican educational system aren't getting the basic educational tools needed to succeed, which are important building blocks for their academic progress and is leading to unprepared students at the higher educational levels. The report was prepared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at the request of the Dominican government and points out that failing conditions of Dominican schools, insufficient investment, the bad image of teachers, difficulties in accessing education, drop out rates, high rates of repetition and lack of teaching resources are roadblocks in the development of a strong educational system. The main areas of concern about the state of the education system were that 70% of rural schools only offer between first and fifth grade education and that 45% of primary schools have to run three teaching shifts per day. The lack of an educational monitoring system and the lack of a learning evaluation program are also hurdles that need to be overcome by the educational system. Ian Whitman, Aims McGuiness, John Coolahan and Simon Schwartzman were part of the group that developed the report, which was presented to the Education, Higher Education and INFOTEP Ministers. The report makes recommendations, 55 in all, including increasing investment in education, reforming the teacher training system to produce better teachers, introducing full primary programs in rural schools and gradually reducing the number of teaching shifts in schools.

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