Education Ministry and Microsoft Invest $5.7 Million Pesos in Training 6,000 School Directors in Computer Technology Management

Education Ministry and Microsoft Invest $5.7 Million Pesos in Training 6,000 School Directors in Computer Technology Management
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 7/ 28//2011

The Ministry of Education (MINERD in Spanish), in coordination with  Microsoft and the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), are developing a project to train 6,000 directors of educational centers in the management of technologies and connectivity systems with an investment of $5,701,062 Dominican pesos.

The project is being carried out as part of the Alliance for Education agreement and Partners in Learning (PIL), signed between Microsoft, FUNGLODE and the Education Ministry through the Office of Computer Information Education, part of the Deputy Ministry of Technology and Pedagogical Affairs. 

Of this amount, $ 2, 984, 604 pesos are contributed by MINERD and $2, 716,457 by Microsoft through FUNGLODE.

The purpose of the plan is to train school directors who received laptops and wide-band connective devices from MINERD as part of its policy of using digital resources as support for educational efforts and administrative systems. 

The project is being carried out as part of the Alliance for Education agreement and Partners in Learning (PIL), signed between Microsoft, FUNGLODE and the Education Ministry through the Office of Computer Information Education, part of the Deputy Ministry of Technology and Pedagogical Affairs. 

The director of the office and engineer, William Ortiz, said the 6,000 directors are benefitting from this program in the 104 School Districts of the country’s 18 regions. They will acquire technical skills in the basic use of computers, technology necessary for unified communication (communication in real time through the use of chat sites and video-conferencing) and the use of digital resources that support education as well as the administrative systems of the Education Ministry.

Mr. Ortiz explained that the training sessions make up a total of 400 courses divided in four levels, of 100 courses each, which began on Tuesday July 12 and will end on July 29th. Courses were given on Tuesdays and Fridays in the afternoon and evenings, simultaneously in the various Education Districts.

In terms of the content, Ortiz cited the basic management of Windows; Office automation, online communication; Supervision Accompanying Systems (SAS) and the Management of Educational Centers (SGCE in Spanish); navigation and use of the Educational website. Also, demonstrations of digital learning resources.
Director of Computer Education at MINERD said that in the first two weeks of the project, they gave 301 courses to some 4,188 trained directors.

According to data managed by the Office of Educational Planning (OPE), MINERD has distributed 5,515 laptops with Internet access to the same number of school directors. The proposed goal was to give out 6,500.

 Other offices of MINERD linked to the project include the Office of Educational Supervision; Office of Supervision, Evaluation and Control; Office of Planning and Development and the General Office of Computer Information.

Training underway in Boca Chica, as part of the project developed by MINERD in coordination with Microsoft and FUNGLODE.