Dominican Republic: schools reopen with low attendance and opposition from teachers

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(CNN Spanish) -

Dominican public schools reopened their classrooms on Tuesday to restart face-to-face classes with the opposition of the Teachers Association (ADP), which fears the spread of covid-19 amid the fifth wave of infections in the country.

According to the ADP, which urged teachers not to attend schools until January 31, in at least 25 of the 32 provinces of the country - such as Bahoruco, Sánchez Ramírez, Samaná, Espaillat, Hermanas Mirabal, San Cristóbal and La Altagracia - The teachers accepted 100% that call not to attend the classrooms.

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In a statement, the Ministry of Education considered that the resumption of face-to-face classes in the second semester was "a great success" since it had the participation of "more than 36% of the student enrollment" compared to a historical average of between 28% and 38% on the first day of classes.

The spokesman for that Ministry, Alonso Rijo, told CNN that the Education Cabinet will meet in the next few hours to assess the situation while reiterating the call to the classrooms for both teachers and students.

For its part, the Association of Private Educational Institutions (Ainep) rejected the position of the ADP and called on its students to go to classrooms this Wednesday when those centers resume their classes.

The impact of ADP's position on the private sector will be more difficult to assess, as many of these establishments have remote class systems in place due to the pandemic.

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The executive director of Ainep, Víctor Villanueva, called on parents to unite for the good of their children's education and send them to the classrooms.

According to CNN coverage in almost all provinces, there was very little student and teacher attendance at educational institutions.

Last week the Ministries of Education and Health had summoned the educational community to return voluntarily after the December holidays.

This Tuesday, the government reported a new record of infections with more than 6,600 new cases, according to the latest Public Health bulletin.

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