Plan DR To Put Into Circulation a Study on School Violence

Plan Dominican Republic will publish the study Violence in the Schools, A Qualitative Research 2008-2009 done by Dominican anthropologist Tahira Vargas as well as a presentation titled “Positive Discipline in the Classroom. Guide for Facilitators.”

The focus of the Dominican research done by Ms. Vargas took place in various schools in the provinces of Azua, Barahona and San Juan de la Maguana.

The focus of the Dominican research done by Ms. Vargas took place in various schools in the provinces of Azua, Barahona and San Juan de la Maguana.

The techniques used involved observation in classrooms and the shared interaction spaces in schools as well as detailed interviews with those involved in the study. Ms. Vargas also observed those elements that form part of the socio-economic context of the children such as their living conditions, nutritional intake and school overcrowding. She also looked at the children’s family structure and their parents’ or guardians’ income levels. She looked at all these elements very intensely and closely in her research. 

This valuable sociological material helps to frame the type of violence in a social, educational and domestic context. It also reveals the position of the teachers in the face of “fights” within the context of their own socio-economic conditions.  As such, the study looks at the parents’ perceptions of violence between the teachers and the students. Among other topics, the research views physical violence and verbal abuse under the title, “Cycles of violence and fear in educational centers.”     

Regarding the study, Ms. Vargas pointed out that it was more than just a research project but was also a learning process. “Although this type of experience is part of my work, I learned many things in this process that impacted me a great deal. I was very affected by the things I saw and by the stories I heard from the boys and girls who told me about their lives. These feelings became part of the reflections that came out in the study,” said Vargas.

As a result of these findings, Plan DR has created a guide with the goal of training teachers in the use of positive discipline with the idea of contributing to the prevention of violence in schools. The publication “Positive Discipline in the Classroom. Guide for Facilitators” was written by child psychologists Dulce Pascual and Annie Díaz.  

Plan International is a non-governmental organization with headquarters in Great Britain. It has been working for 22 years in the Southeastern part of the country (Azua, Barahona, San Juan, Elías Piña and Pedernales) where it sponsors 30,000 children, thus helping their families and the community. Plan International’s vision is a world in which children can go to school safely and securely and receive a quality education free of fear and threats of violence.

About Tahira Vargas
 
Tahira Vargas in a social anthropologist with a Doctorate in Social Anthropology and Current Development from the National Distance University of Madrid (UNED in Spanish). She holds a degree as a specialized professor in Music Education from the University of Chile and the Inter-American Institute of Music Education. She has 20 years experience in social research and project and program evaluations related to the most vulnerable sectors of society. She is specialized in ethnographic research and the use of qualitative focus of social research and evaluation. 

She is part of the Federation of Anthropological Associations of the Spanish State  (FFAAEE); Anthropological Associations of Catalonia (ICARIA); the Latin-American Studies Association (LASA);  and the Latin American Network of Researchers in Gender Studies and Poverty at the University de la Plata, in Argentina.
Tahira Vargas has coordinated and carried out 66 research and study projects in various topics and 28 program and project evaluations in different areas around the country. She is published weekly in various national newspapers. Among her recent publications are:

• Youth, Crime and Drugs, a study for Casa Abierta.
  
• Teenage Pregnancy and Fatherhood for CONAPOFA.
  
• Dominicans in Switzerland. Guidelines, practices and impact on transnational immigration and the repatriation of money between the Dominican Republic and Switzerland (co-authored with Jennifer Petree) and published in Switzerland by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.