Ministry of Education Spearheads Agreement to Teach Senior Citizens to Read

Ministry of Education Spearheads Agreement to Teach Senior Citizens to Read
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic  3/29/2012

The  Ministry of Education, the Autonomous Classist Trade Federation (CASC in Spanish) and the Union of Aging Pensioners and Retirees (UDOJUPE in Spanish) signed an agreement through which the Education Ministry will offer technical support to these organizations to train literacy facilitators who will work with aging adults and senior citizens to teach them to read.

“We believe that with the signing of this agreement, MINERD is contributing to those individuals who are at a place in their lives where they have culminated a career process but who still have opportunities to continue contributing to the development of their families, communities and country,” said Minister Pimentel.

The agreement was signed by Minister of Education, Josefina Pimentel,; Gabriel del Río Doñé, Secretary General of the CASC and Sigfredo Cabral Pujols, president of the UDOJUPE at a meeting in the Ministry of Education (MINERD in Spanish).

The agreement establishes that the MINERD will train facilitators, representing the 32 provinces, who will then train the selection and accreditation committees along with a representation from the municipal unions and districts. In addition, the Ministry commits to provide teaching materials for literacy, elementary and middle school education programs for senior citizens.

As such, the CASC and UDOJUPE have committed to recruiting, selecting and training the instructors in the formation of leaders who will make up the selection and accreditation committees as well as five people from each the municipal unions and district.

Following the signing of the document, Minister Pimentel said she was pleased to be signing an agreement with two entities whose fundamental mission is to support the comprehensive human development of people who have been civil servants in public and private institutions and who require some type of insertion into continued education, social and community programs.

“We believe that with the signing of this agreement, MINERD is contributing to those individuals who are at a place in their lives where they have culminated a career process but who still have opportunities to continue contributing to the development of their families, communities and country,” said Minister Pimentel.

Meanwhile, Cabral Pujols thanked the MINERD for the support it is offering in the project. He affirmed that this is the first time ever in the DR where there has been an educational process directed not just at people who do not know how to read and write, but also to ongoing training for all of those seeking a technical education.

He stressed that the most important aspect of this agreement is that trainers are being  be formed to carry this education to the evaluation and accreditation committees of the senior citizens, single mother and handicapped.

Likewise, Gabriel del Río Doñé thanked Minister Pimentel in the name of the CASC for having provided the possibility of teaching seniors, single mothers, pensioners and the handicapped to read and write. He said the process is important and called for the agreement to become a reality for the benefit of those involved.

One of those considerations of the agreement states: “The CASC and UDOJUPE have organized pensioners in 162 municipalities and municipal districts, amounting to a total of 362,000 members with a projection to double this number, with the goal of reaching the application of Subsidiary Regiment set forth in Articles 63 to 70 of Law No. 87-01, which establishes the right to collect a pension amounting to 60% of the minimum wage, in addition to medical and prescription drug benefits.”

Other participants at the signing of the agreement included Carmen Reyes, MINERD’s legal consultant; Miriam Camilo, Director General of Adult Education; Delci Sosa, Director of Public Relations of CASC and Executive Committee members of UDOJUPE, Nurca Nieves Luciano, Humberto Morrobel and Rafael Moreno.

From left to right, Gabriel del Río Doñé, Secretary General of the CASC; Minister of Education, Josefina Pimentel and Sigfredo Cabral, president of UDOJUPE, as they sign the agreement.