Inafocam Awarded Scholarships to 71,405 Teachers in 2013; Exceeds Target by 374%

Inafocam Awarded Scholarships to 71,405 Teachers in 2013; Exceeds Target by 374%
Santo Domingo, January 15, 2014

The National Institute of Teacher Education and Training (INAFOCAM – Instituto Nacional de Formación y Capacitación del Magisterio) carried out activities in 2013 that benefited 71,405 teachers, high school graduates, and professionals in non-teaching careers with scholarships for undergraduate, graduate, continuing education, and teacher qualification, with a total investment of RD$900,883,446.

The number of awardees exceeded by 374.6% the target established for the year, as 19,060 teachers received scholarships.

Inafocam activities in continuing education reached 68,180 teachers who received training in diploma programs, courses, workshops, seminars, and conferences surpassing by 394% the goal of 17,300 educators for that year. The training allowed the beneficiaries to acquire new skills and strategies to improve learning quality in schools.

The number of high school graduates that received scholarships for early childhood education was 1,269, thereby exceeding by 186.6% the target of 680 graduates of middle school who were incorporated into teacher training at various institutions of higher education.
At the graduate level, 1,434 teachers from around the country entered doctoral and master’s programs, and specialties programs at national and international universities, thus exceeding by 210.8% the target set for 2013 of 680 scholarships awarded to teachers.

Also during the same period, 522 professionals of careers other than education were incorporated into the Teacher Qualification Program, so that during a one-year period they would acquire the pedagogical skills needed to teach their professional skills in public schools. In this section, the goal was to train 400 professionals in pedagogical techniques, which surpassed by 130.55% the target set.

Other remarkable achievements

In 2013, the Inafocam not only achieved the highest record of teacher training within a year, but also met the commitments it had made in the framework of the Dominican Initiative for Quality Education (IDEC). These were: the definition of a new Framework for Continuing Teacher Education and the revision of the curriculum of the Teacher Qualification Program designed to teach pedagogical skills to professionals in non-teaching careers.

The Inafocam also initiated a program to professionalize teachers without degrees, as well as developed promotional activities that drew a great deal of interest from professionals in non-teaching careers for the Teacher Qualification Program and successfully resumed the graduate programs benefiting nearly 1,500 educators throughout the country.

The Inafocam also completed a series of assessments and research in order to reorient the education and teacher training programs being carried out in the country. One investigation allowed the identification of the factors that make socially disadvantaged schools achieve meaningful learning in their students.