Abinader inaugurates high school for 840 students

Santiago.- President Luis Abinader inaugurated this Saturday the Caferino Bonilla Reyes High School, in the municipal district of Hato del Yaque in the province of Santiago, a work that will benefit 840 students. The new educational center has 24 classrooms, a laboratory, a library, a sports field, a civic plaza, and other specialized areas that will allow it to accommodate 840 students from the community and surrounding areas, with the aim of guaranteeing a quality public education. During the event and representing the minister Luis Miguel De Camps, the Vice Minister of Planning and Development of the Ministry of Education (Minerd), Rolando Reyes, highlighted the magnitude of the investment that the Government is executing to strengthen the educational infrastructure. Reyes reported that, although the delivered center has 24 classrooms, the Minerd is putting a total of 54 new classrooms into operation in this same municipality, corresponding to other schools in District 18-05 of the Santiago Education Regional. He also announced that in the coming months, an additional 212 classrooms currently in the finishing phase will be delivered, with an investment of RD 758.2 million, corresponding to the so-called "drag classrooms". The Vice Minister explained that, by the beginning of 2026, the Minerd will launch a national tender to execute the renewed National School Building Plan, revised by the Vice Ministry of Planning. This plan contemplates the construction of 16,452 classrooms throughout the country, with a total estimated budget of RD 82,454 million. He said that, during the period 2026-2028, the Minerd plans to deliver 7,456 classrooms, of which 963 correspond to the province of Santiago. “In other words, between the classrooms that are already under construction and the new ones that will begin with the National Building Plan, the province of Santiago will add 1,145 additional classrooms,” Reyes explained.

He added that the total investment amount in this province alone amounts to RD 6,021.4 million. Meanwhile, the school principal, Marisol Rodríguez, emphasized that with this new work, the educational community assumes the commitment to promote collaboration, discipline, order, ethics, and civic values. “This educational center opens its arms to hundreds of young people who urgently demand the bread of education as an indispensable way to achieve goals of progress and well-being,” he/she pointed out. In representation of the student body, fourth-grade student Marisol del Carmen García Estévez stated that the new high school constitutes "a door to a more dignified, more just future with greater opportunities for all." “Thanks to the vision of the Government and the commitment of the Ministry of Education, today we have a modern, safe space designed to fully develop our potential,” he added. President Abinader was accompanied by the provincial governor, Rosa Santos; Senator Daniel Rivera; the directors, general of Coraasan, Andrés Cueto; district, Fermín Rojas Noesí; of School Maintenance and Infrastructure, Roberto Herrera; of Regional Education 08, Pedro Marte, and of District 08-05, Roberto Rosario.