Abinader heads delivery of school supplies that will benefit more than 600,000 students

Also present at the activity was the executive director of INABIE Víctor Castro, who emphasized that for the first time efforts have been made to ensure that the supplies reach the students on time.

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“The commitment of this government is to bring timely assistance mainly to families in conditions of vulnerability who are the ones for whom this social policy is intended, especially in the context of uncertainty that the world is living. As part of the commitment we have assumed, we are making the corresponding arrangements for the increase of some 300 thousand units of school supplies to be delivered for the 2023-2024 school year, this is change,” Castro emphasized.

The opening ceremony was held at the Patria Mella educational center located in Santo Domingo East, which is one of the 5,023 centers identified as beneficiaries of this social policy.

The supplies are provided by the National Institute of Student Welfare (INABIE) to encourage students to attend school and alleviate the economic burden of the families who will benefit from the kits.
What do the kits contain?
The kits, which have an estimated cost of RD$1,880.57 each, are composed of a t-shirt, a pair of pants, a pair of shoes and socks, as well as a backpack containing three notebooks, a charcoal pencil, a box of colored pencils, a pencil sharpener, an eraser and rulers.

These items are of national production, an element that also has an impact on the economic dynamics of the country, benefiting Dominican producers and encouraging job creation.

Delivery process
The delivery process begins with a first stage that will cover more than 300,000 students until exceeding 600,000 schoolchildren, who will have the educational clothing before the start of the 2022-2023 school year scheduled for September 19.

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The school kits will be transferred from the warehouses to the 18 educational regions from where the delivery chain will continue to the educational districts and then to the 5,023 preschool and elementary schools identified as beneficiaries.

Criteria for the selection of beneficiary schools and delivery percentage

According to the established policy, beneficiary schools are selected according to the vulnerability map of the Unified Beneficiary System.

In this sense, the enrollment of students in the centers with the highest vulnerability index, which total 221,056 students, will be covered with the delivery of 100% of the kits. These students belong to 6 regional centers: Bahoruco, Azua, Barahona, San Juan, Monte Plata and Monte Cristi.

Meanwhile, 40% of the current student enrollment, which amounts to 379,004 students belonging to 12 regions, will receive kits in the rest of the centers, which total 3,598 schools.

The activity was also attended by Rafael Bello, vice-minister of Quality, Evaluation and Control of Education of the Ministry of Education, Manuel Jiménez, mayor of Santo Domingo East, Eduardo Hidalgo, president of the Dominican Association of Teachers (ADP), Sergio Antonio Rodríguez Blanco, district director, the regional director, Teodosia Otaño and the director of the Patria Mella School, Josué Pichardo.