Education Begins Second Testing of Over 6,000 Aspiring Teachers in Civil Service Exams

Education Begins Second Testing of Over 6,000 Aspiring Teachers in Civil Service Exams
Santo Domingo, January 16, 2014

The Ministry of Education (MINERD) started the second examinations covering proficiency and interviews for 6,581 applicants to the Civil Service Exams who pre-qualified for a position as teacher at the Preschool, Elementary, and Middle school levels, Languages??, Physical Education, Psychologists, Counselors, Principals, and Assistant Principals of schools in the 18 Regional Directorates.
The opening ceremony of the process, held at the Panama Urban Elementary School, was headed by Deputy Minister of Technical and Educational Services, Mr. Luis Enrique Matos, on behalf of the Minister of Education, Mr. Carlos Amarante Baret.

Matos highlighted the transparency and innovations of the seventh contest that MINERD has organized, such as the digitalization process, an externally controlled technology platform, and the participation this year of middle school level teachers.

“We hope that such an activity meets the primary purpose of selecting the best candidates. If after an evaluation process we went from the initial just over 17,000 candidates to 6,000, I guess in this second stage we will have more than 3,000 approved candidates,” he said.

The Deputy Minister added that “the Minister of Education has announced twice that he hopes that the process of the Civil Service Exams will be extended to other instances of the Ministry, and that the selection of district directors and regional directors will also take place through a competition of the same type.”

Sobeida Sánchez, Director of Regional 10, thanked the Minister of Education for having taken that jurisdiction into account to carry out the second phase of the process.

She urged teachers to keep abreast of the latest developments in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) “and to understand that this tool is an important element in the context of quality innovation.”

Support of ADP

Mr. Eduardo Hidalgo, President of the Dominican Teachers’ Association (ADP – Asociación Dominicana de Profesores), highlighted the implementation of Civil Service Exams for entry into the teaching profession, as reflected in General Education Law 66-97.

He said that the innovation of carrying out this contest in an automated way helps the transparency and objectivity of the process “and the union is committed to seeing reliable results.” “The union welcomes this system, which is being implemented not only in Regional 10; today, we begin the second stage in the 18 Regionals of the country. The union reiterates its commitment for everything to go well and for all of you to come out successful from this task,” Hidalgo said.

This is the civil servant exam number 7-2013, which began on November 5th, 2012 with the reception and verification of the personal and academic documents of the applicants aspiring to fill vacancies in the public education system.

Then, applicants took aptitude and logical reasoning tests, the qualifying phase in which the candidates that did not fit the profile were disqualified and did not advance to the proficiency tests.

Of the 17,492 applicants called for the first phase of the contest, 16,239 or the equivalent to 92%, took the logical reasoning and aptitude test, of which 59% did not have the proper profile and 41% was in line with the profile and moved onto the second phase, which began on Monday, January 13th. Additionally, 1,233 (7%) failed to appear and 20 (1%) applicants are still pending.

Places where tests will be given

The Ministry of Education reported that the tests for Regional 1 shall be given at the Cristo Rey Parish in Barahona; for Regional 2 of San Juan de la Maguana, at the Urania Montás center of the ISFODOSU. Meanwhile, for Regional 3 of Azua, testing will be held at the Bartolomé Olegario school; and, for Regional 4 of San Cristóbal, at the San Rafael Official College.

In Regional 5, of San Pedro de Macorís, tests are scheduled to take place at the Lyceum Gastón Fernando Deligne; for Regional 6 of La Vega, at the Mercedes Morel Polytechnic for Women; for Regional 7 of San Francisco de Macorís, at the Vicente Aquilino Santos Polytechnic; for Regional 8 in Santiago, at Las Mercedes Polytechnic for Women; and, for Regional 9 in Mao, at the Mao-Curno-UASD university campus.

The Regional 10 Santo Domingo II will give the tests for the Civil Servant Exam at the Republic of Panama School; Regional 11 of Puerto Plata, at the Gregorio Urbano Gilbert School; Regional 12 of Higüey, at Juan XXIII de la Salle School; Regional 13 of Montecristi, at the San José School; and, Regional 14 of Nagua, at the Mercedes Bello Excellence Lyceum.

At Regional 15 Santo Domingo III applicants are summoned to the Víctor Estrella Liz (Perito) Polytechnic; in Regional 16 of Cotuí, to the Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal Lyceum; at Regional 17 in Monte Plata, to the Fernando Arturo de Meriño School; and, at Regional 18 of Neyba, to the Archbishop Valera School.

The Ministry of Education reminded applicants who qualified for the proficiency tests and interviews, that they must attend on the day and time stipulated because “the absence of an applicant to any of the tests will result in their automatic exclusion from the competition process.”