In Dominican Budget win, education group warns corrupt officials

Santo Domingo.- With Monday’s approval of the draft for the 2013 Budget in a Cabinet meeting headed by president Danilo Medina, the Dignified Education Coalition claims a victory of its campaign to obtain one fifth of the funds for pre-university education.

The Presidency announced that the draft will be sent to Congress next week, where lawmakers are expected to pass it quickly.

In the piece, Medina keeps his campaign promise to assign 4% of GDP to pre-university education, or RD$99.6 billion,

Coalition spokespersons Mario Berges and Maria Teresa Cabrera said the Administration headed by former president Leonel Fernandez sought to evade its responsibility with the law regarding the allocation of the 4% of the GDP for education.

Interviewed by Huchi Lora and Patricia Solano on Channel 11, the Coalition leaders also noted that in addition to violation the law on Education, some government officials also receive graft from the contractors who build and repair schools.

Berges, who warned the corrupt officials against “frothing their thieving hands,” announced the close monitoring of the use of the funds, through the Initiative for a Quality Education (IDEC). ”The thieves should be warned that this Coalition is the worse plague that can befall on them.”