Vuelta Larga, Imbert, Puerto Plata, DR: The residents of this community are preparing to organize a series of struggles and protests demanding that the government repair the old school that is about to collapse and finish a new school that is 80 percent advanced. % for its completion, whose work was stopped for a decade.
After a complaint from the newspaper El Faro Latino of the United States, published on May 23 of this year, in which the danger that hangs over the lives of 90 students and educators is reported due to the ascending deterioration of the cracking of the walls and weakening of the columns of the structure that is about to collapse becoming a human tragedy of incalculable proportions.
The quiet and peaceful community of Vuelta Larga has been stunned by the “Solomonic” decision made by the director of regional Education #011 of this province, Licda. Leónidas Payamps Cruz, alias (Sarah), for sending 90 students home without developing an adequate platform for the children to continue receiving teaching virtually, who did not respond to a call from this editor on the morning of this Friday, June 16, because we seek to know if this strange decision made by the owner had the endorsement of the Minister of Education, Ángel Enrique Hernández Castillo.
Director of the regional Education # 011 of this province, Licda. Leónidas Payamps Cruz, alias (Sarah) and the Minister of Education, Ángel Enrique Hernández Castillo.
Although it seems unlikely, Education took closing the school so that the students do not continue to be photographed receiving classes outdoors, under a scorching sun and a cloud of dust that is already wreaking havoc on the respiratory health of the children who were taken to the schoolyard for fear of the teachers that the old and cracked structure collapsed leaving everyone buried under the rubble.
“After the report appeared in the newspaper El Faro Latino in the United States, a man came who identified himself as a colonel, who the Ministry of Education supposedly sent from Santo Domingo, who inspected and was able to verify that the complaints were so The collapse of the old structure of the school is real as imminent, whose cracks increased after the earthquakes that recently affected the region,” said a source who spoke to the newspaper El Faro Latino on condition of anonymity.
“Then he arrived from the regional 011 of Education with a seat in the main municipality of the province, whose head is Licda. Leonidas Payamps Cruz, aka (Sarah). When he saw the magnitude of the problem and that the school is actually about to collapse, he decided to send the students home, so that they would not continue to be portrayed taking classes off campus, under inhumane conditions and a scorching sun, accompanied by a cloud of dust that began to cause respiratory problems for the children,” our source continued.
“On Tuesday, June 6, they sent the children to their homes, without any planning, creating WhatsApp groups for teachers to teach from that application, which is not an adequate platform for that, above all, which is using the connection of the internet of the homes and cell phones of the parents, many of whom do not have a connection at home and the mobile devices are not modern or have a lousy internet connection, because they are families with limited economic resources, for which it is still unknown the magnitude of the disaster of a school year about to end,” he said.
They announce intense days of protests demanding the repair of the school and the completion of the new one, which is 80% complete.
The community of Vuelta Larga, overwhelmed by unfulfilled promises about a new school, whose work has been paralyzed for more than ten years, is willing to enter into a process of days of protest if the authorities do not repair the little school and finish the school in the Building process. The reason why they call on President Luis Abinader to order the completion of the new school. And so that the next school year is not affected, they repair the old school taking advantage of the holidays until August that is about to arrive.
The new school, which, according to the complainants, is 80% complete, belongs to the Vuelta Larga School of School District #03 of Regional #11 of the Ministry of Education of the province of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
The 90 children in danger will be transferred when the government finishes this school. When it is fully operational with all its functional classrooms (9 in total), the levels of Education will be extended from preschool to sixth grade, the first and second year of high school (what was before 7th and 8th) until high school. This would mean that students would not have to leave Vuelta Larga to graduate, representing an unprecedented achievement.
Adventures of the Vuelta Larga students
Those who graduate from the rural school must move to the municipality of Imbert, 8 kilometers away from Saballo and La Escalereta, to receive teaching from the first and second grades (7th and 8th). They must cover the journey on their own feet back and forth if a good Samaritan does not appear to give them a “ball” (take them for free) because they do not have school transportation or financial resources to pay for the tickets.
If the government of President Luis Abinader finishes the new school, firstly, it could prevent a tragedy for the residents of Vuelta Larga. Secondly, it would prevent children and young people from walking long distances to study in neighboring towns, facilitating them to learn in their city from kindergarten to high school.
The Latino Lighthouse makes a simple call to President Luis Abinader to respond as soon as possible to this emergency, avoid a catastrophe and restore peace to the low-income families of Vuelta Larga.