Education will reward the best-cared-for schools in each province

Santo Domingo. - The Ministry of Education and the School Infrastructure Directorate have instructed the start of a bidding process to implement an award program for the best-maintained schools as part of a preventive plan starting next August, when students return to classes. The selected centers will be publicly recognized as part of an effort to encourage co-responsibility, foster a culture of care for educational spaces, and ensure that the State's investments in school infrastructure are sustainable over time. The announcement was made by Roberto Herrera Polanco, Director of School Infrastructure, who explained that, after assuming the current administration, the authorities found a reality that, although uncomfortable, had to be recognized: in many educational centers the facilities are not properly cared for, a responsibility that falls on the entire educational community, including students, directors, teachers and authorities.

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In that sense, Herrera Polanco pointed out that the deterioration of the schools is directly related to the lack of a preventive maintenance culture. However, he highlighted that there are also positive examples that deserve recognition, especially citing educational centers run by religious congregations, which - according to him - present better levels of care and conservation. He emphasized that corrective maintenance is much more expensive than preventive maintenance, so the goal of management is that, in a period of less than two years, the education system will not have to resort to major repairs thanks to efficient and continuous preventive maintenance. "The fundamental idea is that we don't have to do corrective maintenance because preventive maintenance works so well that there's nothing to correct," he emphasized. The entity responsible for carrying out this award is the Department of Social Empowerment, chaired by Carlos Martínez, whose function is to connect schools with communities.