- Thread starter pinonuevo
- Start date
Contamination of Dominican Beaches in Bocachica/Guayacanes/JuanDolio
Who is the owner of Los Delfines? I've heard it's the guy who owns the Ramada hotel in Santo Domingo.
I remember years ago Rocky, a WWF wrestler opened a water park in Los Frailes without studying what his infrastructure costs were going to be.
The electric consumption was enormous, and he ended up trying to run the whole park with a generator which was worse.
He ended up abandoning the whole project.
I remember years ago Rocky, a WWF wrestler opened a water park in Los Frailes without studying what his infrastructure costs were going to be.
The electric consumption was enormous, and he ended up trying to run the whole park with a generator which was worse.
He ended up abandoning the whole project.
Last edited:
Until the well educated middle class in the DR increases to the point where they represent a significant number of voters, the wide separation of the rich and poor in the DR will allow the present and future governments to stay on the same course and ignore the pollution problems and many other social problems. The poor get up every morning and struggle to put food on their tables to feed their families. Pollution problems are not something they think about.
The middle class fight for better education, better job opportunities, better living conditions. They don’t accept the lies told during elections by the governing elite. They don’t accept the inevitability of government corruption and inaction like the poor.
Until that happens, as Shakespeare said,” Where ignorance is bliss, it’s folly to be wise”.
There is an often quoted line from Thomas Gray’s poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect at Eton College, “Where ignorance is bliss, Tis folly to be wise.” We hear it often in the shortened version “ignorance is bliss” which can be taken to be an excuse to be lazy with one’s mind and be happier. Yet, if one reads into Gray’s poem fully, it is more about not encumbering one’s mind unnecessarily and what lies ahead is better faced without the worry of the arduous path ahead. It really is not about being apathetic about knowledge.
What did Thomas Gray mean by ignorance is bliss?
What does the line where ignorance is bliss its folly to be wise mean in the poem on a Distant Prospect of Eton College :?
proverb It is better to remain unaware or ignorant of things that may otherwise cause one stress; if you don't know about something, you don't need to worry about it. From the 1742 poem "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College," by Thomas Gray.
What does the line where ignorance is bliss its folly to be wise mean in the poem on a Distant Prospect of Eton College :?
proverb It is better to remain unaware or ignorant of things that may otherwise cause one stress; if you don't know about something, you don't need to worry about it. From the 1742 poem "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College," by Thomas Gray.
Probably not even his company...................just his name.
He certainly could use some image re-building after he was suspended from baseball for using banned substances, was called out in the DR for not providing child support to his son, but my all time favorite;
Big-league player on police payroll…more Dominican Govt. corruption
<p>Santo Domingo.- In what will likely end up as just anothercase of corruption in the Dominican Republic, Seattle Mariners slugger RobinsonCano figures as 1st Lt. of the National Police payroll, but it wasn’timmediately revealed whether the megabucks baseball star cashes the check of themeasly...
dominicantoday.com
And so it goes.............
Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
I think that's just honorary stuff. I'm a member of the PN and DNCD as well.Probably not even his company...................just his name.
He certainly could use some image re-building after he was suspended from baseball for using banned substances, was called out in the DR for not providing child support to his son, but my all time favorite;
Big-league player on police payroll…more Dominican Govt. corruption
<p>Santo Domingo.- In what will likely end up as just anothercase of corruption in the Dominican Republic, Seattle Mariners slugger RobinsonCano figures as 1st Lt. of the National Police payroll, but it wasn’timmediately revealed whether the megabucks baseball star cashes the check of themeasly...
And so it goes.............
Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
Could be...........or he could as so many do..........get paid but their check(s) are cashed/deposited by someone else.
My client here in the US was offered a job as a police officer..........nothing required of him other than his cedula.................his salary would be kicked up to whoever hired him. Many do it to be in the good graces of a General when they need something...........
And so it goes.
Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
Mine was intended to be "get out of jail free" cards but never had the need to use them.
The Dominican Republic is fraught with numerous problems including violence against women and against immigrants from Haiti, the degradation of the environment, and principally inequalities in the education system, all of which make it most unlikely that the Government will be able to bring about sustainable human or economic development in the middle term. There has been progress in some areas, but the country urgently needs more far-reaching social policies that are genuinely geared to the changes needed to ensure a decent future. The country will almost certainly not be able to achieve sustainable development unless the education system is drastically changed to make it more democratic.
The Government of the Dominican Republic has made a commitment to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but the obstacles to doing so are that its policies in crucial areas like social investment, the redistribution of wealth, restoring the environment and in particular improving education are not effective. As explained below, official and also independent studies show the country is a very long way from MDG 1 (the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger), Goal 2 (universal education) and Goal 3 (equality between men and women). In addition to these problems, there has been little progress in environmental sustainability in a land that is severely degraded after decades of over-exploitation, and this raises the question of whether the Government is actually capable of creating a sustainable economy.
In 2006 the Government set up the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPYD), charged with monitoring State policies for social development and reform. The Ministry drew up the Basic Document for a National Development Strategy 2010-2030, entitled “A journey to change into a better country”.[1] This was an attempt to create a consensus that would clarify the steps to be taken to transform the Dominican Republic into a fairer and more equitable nation.
In 2010 UNDP described the Dominican Republic as “A middle income developing country that depends mainly on the services sector and remittances from abroad. Today the level of economic activity is 12 times greater than it was in 1960, and the average growth rate over the last 48 years has been 5.4% per year. Foreign currency income from exports, tourism and remittances is now 15 times greater than it was 40 years ago.”[2] However, in spite of these positive indicators and institutional changes, social investment is at a low level and there has hardly been any improvement at all in education, which means the country is still a long way short of the goals the Government claims it is pursuing.
Persistent inequality
The Dominican Republic has made good progress towards some other MDGs, including infant and maternal mortality and life expectancy at birth, indicators for which have improved significantly in recent years. But, data from the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development shows that in a country of nearly 10 million, the current levels of poverty (34%) and indigence (10%) are very high, [3] although they have fallen considerable since the economic crisis of 2003 when these indicators reached their peak: 43% and 16% respectively.
The UNDP 2010 Human Development Report concludes that the biggest obstacle to the country’s development is inequality.[4] The report also says that education and health service levels have not increased in the same proportion as per capita wealth. The UNDP Human Development Index ranks the Dominican Republic 88th out of 169 countries, with a mean human development rating of 0.663.[5]
The 2006 UNICEF report on the State of the World’s Children stated that “social progress in the Dominican Republic, measured by life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, babies underweight at birth and the adult literacy rate, is very low compared to other countries in the region with the same levels of economic growth.”[6]
ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) reports that since 2004 the Dominican Republic has been third from last among the countries of the Americas in terms of relative investment in social policies, and this is reflected mostly in the population’s poor access to health and education services and social assistance.[7]
Violence and discrimination
In its 2010 report, Amnesty International denounced the Dominican Republic for persistent discrimination against Haitian immigrants and their descendants. These people are the victims of numerous hate crimes that even include lynching, and as illegal immigrants they are exploited in the labour market. Unofficial estimates put the number of Haitians in the country at 800,000 and nearly all of them live in the poorest areas.[8]
In 2007, following a directive by the Central Electoral Council, thousands of citizens, mostly descendants of Haitian immigrants, those becoming stateless, had their identity documents rescinded. This severely restricted their access to health services, education and jobs, and also took away their right to vote. People without the correct documents are liable to arbitrary detention and can be expelled from the country. These regulations are still in force today.
Gender violence is another endemic problem, above all with regard to people under the legal age. In May 2009 the Santo Domingo Prosecutor’s Office said that in 90% of reported cases of sexual violence the victims were girls under 18 years old.[9]
Environmental degradation
In the second half of the 20th century the country’s natural resources were so heavily exploited that most of the forests and coral reefs were devastated, and today some 80% of its river basins are severely degraded.[10] Moreover in many areas there is no adequate sewage system and there are big problems with the distribution of potable water, which together create a widespread health risk. The fact that poverty is so widespread means that a large proportion of the people have to depend on the natural food resources of their own areas, and this inevitably places great strain on these stocks and makes for further degradation of the ecosystem.
Poor education and Government inaction
A discouraging aspect of the current situation is that the State is paying scant attention to education, even though an educated population must be the cornerstone of any future plan to improve social, economic and environmental conditions. Education is the main means whereby a society constructs its values, and it is a key factor in sustainable human development because it will enable future generations to properly manage the country’s social and natural resources.
As well as failing to increase investment in education, the State is even failing to comply with the requirements of the Education Law of 1997 (Law 66-97, which states in Article 197 that starting in 1999 annual public spending on the sector should be at least 16% of total public expenditure or 4% of the estimated GDP for the current year, whichever is higher. [11] Public expenditure on education, which increased from 1.9% to 2.9% of GDP in the period 1996 to 2002, dropped as a consequence of the economic crisis to a paltry 1.5% in 2004. In 2005 it recovered somewhat to 1.9%, but it is still far too low and it has never reached 3% of GDP.
The Ministry of Education has calculated that in the 2000 to 2005 period the proportion of the education system financed by the State decreased to 52% and the proportion contributed by students’ families fell to 39%, while the OECD reports that the shortfall was made up with foreign loans and donations and contributions from private enterprises.[12] Some 24% of the student population attend private educational institutions, which do better than the State system in terms of this basic human right.
In the face of this, the Government is sending confused signals. President Leonel Fernández sowed doubts about the degree to which he was committed to the provisions of Law 66-97 when he claimed there was no correlation between the amounts invested in education and the academic results achieved. According to Fernández, increasing the proportion of GDP allocated to the sector would not guarantee good quality equitable education.[13]
In response, civil society organizations have come together to form the Decent Education Coalition to demand the Government comply with its legal obligations. They have even received support from the business sector; for example the Federation of Industrial Associations (FAI) has backed the Coalition’s campaign. According to the FAI and other similar institutions, “industry in the Dominican Republic cannot become competitive with a workforce that is poorly trained. We believe, as the President says, that the pedagogic style and the curriculum are in need of reform, but this cannot be done without resources.” [14]
Inequality in the classroom
According to a 2008 report from the Latin American Laboratory for Education Quality Evaluation (LLECE), the Dominican Republic has “a dual-quality education model in which the best goes to the richer groups and the worst to the poorer groups, and this has become so ingrained in the culture that many people see it as the natural order of things.”[15] There have been many independent as well as official surveys and studies that lay bare the reality of the situation but nothing has changed, and this is making inequality endemic.
In 2007 the country’s Demographic and Health Survey (ENDESA) found educational disparities that were attributable to differences in income. For example, in the richest quintile of the population the illiteracy rate is only 2% but in the poorest quintile it is extremely high at 26%.[16]
Another evaluation that confirms these findings is the 2008 Second Comparative Regional Study and Explanation of Student Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean (SERCE), which concluded that “in mathematics and language pupils from third to sixth grade in the Dominican Republic are far below the average for Latin America and the Caribbean.”[17]
One of the factors behind this poor showing in education is the poor quality of teaching. The teachers in the State system are not well trained, they are overloaded with work and badly paid, and in order for them to earn a minimum acceptable salary they have to do so many classroom hours they have little time to prepare the courses. This makes it impossible for them to keep to the set programmes or to effectively transmit the required educational content to their pupils. Another negative factor is that in the 2005-06 academic year only 43.1% of active teachers had a teaching diploma. The rest were not qualified to teach classes.
It is clear that the country’s education system is not providing good quality education. In the last ten years overall pupil coverage has increased but academic performance is still very poor and consequently most young people finish their studies without the basic knowledge needed to compete in the labour market, which limits their access to decent work.
Conclusion
Overall, in spite of some encouraging progress in achieving national development goals, partidcularly regarding greater life expectancy and reduced maternal and child mortality, the Dominican Republic urgently needs to adopt a far-reaching strategy for sustainable development if it is to overcome serious obstacles, most of which relate to high, and increasing, inequality. This is especially evident in terms of access to health and education, both of which affect the productivity of the labour force, as does continued violence and discrimination against women and Haitian immigrants. In particular, if the quality of education does not improve dramatically, and if the population’s access to it is not extended, it is most unlikely the Government will be able to lead the country along the path to sustainable development.
Workers collecting garbage from a beach in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, this month.Credit...Erika Santelices/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Palko Karasz
Come for the beaches, say tourism ads for the Dominican Republic.
But it has some beaches you might want to skip right now.
The Caribbean nation is known for sapphire seas and ivory beaches, but it is grappling with waves of garbage washing up on its shores, a vivid reminder of the presence of thousands of tons of plastic in the world’s oceans.
Follow Palko Karasz on Twitter: @karaszpalko
A version of this article appears in print on July 24, 2018, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Wave After Wave of Garbage Hits the Dominican Republic. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
|
The Government of the Dominican Republic has made a commitment to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but the obstacles to doing so are that its policies in crucial areas like social investment, the redistribution of wealth, restoring the environment and in particular improving education are not effective. As explained below, official and also independent studies show the country is a very long way from MDG 1 (the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger), Goal 2 (universal education) and Goal 3 (equality between men and women). In addition to these problems, there has been little progress in environmental sustainability in a land that is severely degraded after decades of over-exploitation, and this raises the question of whether the Government is actually capable of creating a sustainable economy.
In 2006 the Government set up the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPYD), charged with monitoring State policies for social development and reform. The Ministry drew up the Basic Document for a National Development Strategy 2010-2030, entitled “A journey to change into a better country”.[1] This was an attempt to create a consensus that would clarify the steps to be taken to transform the Dominican Republic into a fairer and more equitable nation.
In 2010 UNDP described the Dominican Republic as “A middle income developing country that depends mainly on the services sector and remittances from abroad. Today the level of economic activity is 12 times greater than it was in 1960, and the average growth rate over the last 48 years has been 5.4% per year. Foreign currency income from exports, tourism and remittances is now 15 times greater than it was 40 years ago.”[2] However, in spite of these positive indicators and institutional changes, social investment is at a low level and there has hardly been any improvement at all in education, which means the country is still a long way short of the goals the Government claims it is pursuing.
Persistent inequality
The Dominican Republic has made good progress towards some other MDGs, including infant and maternal mortality and life expectancy at birth, indicators for which have improved significantly in recent years. But, data from the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development shows that in a country of nearly 10 million, the current levels of poverty (34%) and indigence (10%) are very high, [3] although they have fallen considerable since the economic crisis of 2003 when these indicators reached their peak: 43% and 16% respectively.
The UNDP 2010 Human Development Report concludes that the biggest obstacle to the country’s development is inequality.[4] The report also says that education and health service levels have not increased in the same proportion as per capita wealth. The UNDP Human Development Index ranks the Dominican Republic 88th out of 169 countries, with a mean human development rating of 0.663.[5]
The 2006 UNICEF report on the State of the World’s Children stated that “social progress in the Dominican Republic, measured by life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, babies underweight at birth and the adult literacy rate, is very low compared to other countries in the region with the same levels of economic growth.”[6]
ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) reports that since 2004 the Dominican Republic has been third from last among the countries of the Americas in terms of relative investment in social policies, and this is reflected mostly in the population’s poor access to health and education services and social assistance.[7]
Violence and discrimination
In its 2010 report, Amnesty International denounced the Dominican Republic for persistent discrimination against Haitian immigrants and their descendants. These people are the victims of numerous hate crimes that even include lynching, and as illegal immigrants they are exploited in the labour market. Unofficial estimates put the number of Haitians in the country at 800,000 and nearly all of them live in the poorest areas.[8]
In 2007, following a directive by the Central Electoral Council, thousands of citizens, mostly descendants of Haitian immigrants, those becoming stateless, had their identity documents rescinded. This severely restricted their access to health services, education and jobs, and also took away their right to vote. People without the correct documents are liable to arbitrary detention and can be expelled from the country. These regulations are still in force today.
Gender violence is another endemic problem, above all with regard to people under the legal age. In May 2009 the Santo Domingo Prosecutor’s Office said that in 90% of reported cases of sexual violence the victims were girls under 18 years old.[9]
Environmental degradation
In the second half of the 20th century the country’s natural resources were so heavily exploited that most of the forests and coral reefs were devastated, and today some 80% of its river basins are severely degraded.[10] Moreover in many areas there is no adequate sewage system and there are big problems with the distribution of potable water, which together create a widespread health risk. The fact that poverty is so widespread means that a large proportion of the people have to depend on the natural food resources of their own areas, and this inevitably places great strain on these stocks and makes for further degradation of the ecosystem.
Poor education and Government inaction
A discouraging aspect of the current situation is that the State is paying scant attention to education, even though an educated population must be the cornerstone of any future plan to improve social, economic and environmental conditions. Education is the main means whereby a society constructs its values, and it is a key factor in sustainable human development because it will enable future generations to properly manage the country’s social and natural resources.
As well as failing to increase investment in education, the State is even failing to comply with the requirements of the Education Law of 1997 (Law 66-97, which states in Article 197 that starting in 1999 annual public spending on the sector should be at least 16% of total public expenditure or 4% of the estimated GDP for the current year, whichever is higher. [11] Public expenditure on education, which increased from 1.9% to 2.9% of GDP in the period 1996 to 2002, dropped as a consequence of the economic crisis to a paltry 1.5% in 2004. In 2005 it recovered somewhat to 1.9%, but it is still far too low and it has never reached 3% of GDP.
The Ministry of Education has calculated that in the 2000 to 2005 period the proportion of the education system financed by the State decreased to 52% and the proportion contributed by students’ families fell to 39%, while the OECD reports that the shortfall was made up with foreign loans and donations and contributions from private enterprises.[12] Some 24% of the student population attend private educational institutions, which do better than the State system in terms of this basic human right.
In the face of this, the Government is sending confused signals. President Leonel Fernández sowed doubts about the degree to which he was committed to the provisions of Law 66-97 when he claimed there was no correlation between the amounts invested in education and the academic results achieved. According to Fernández, increasing the proportion of GDP allocated to the sector would not guarantee good quality equitable education.[13]
In response, civil society organizations have come together to form the Decent Education Coalition to demand the Government comply with its legal obligations. They have even received support from the business sector; for example the Federation of Industrial Associations (FAI) has backed the Coalition’s campaign. According to the FAI and other similar institutions, “industry in the Dominican Republic cannot become competitive with a workforce that is poorly trained. We believe, as the President says, that the pedagogic style and the curriculum are in need of reform, but this cannot be done without resources.” [14]
Inequality in the classroom
According to a 2008 report from the Latin American Laboratory for Education Quality Evaluation (LLECE), the Dominican Republic has “a dual-quality education model in which the best goes to the richer groups and the worst to the poorer groups, and this has become so ingrained in the culture that many people see it as the natural order of things.”[15] There have been many independent as well as official surveys and studies that lay bare the reality of the situation but nothing has changed, and this is making inequality endemic.
In 2007 the country’s Demographic and Health Survey (ENDESA) found educational disparities that were attributable to differences in income. For example, in the richest quintile of the population the illiteracy rate is only 2% but in the poorest quintile it is extremely high at 26%.[16]
Another evaluation that confirms these findings is the 2008 Second Comparative Regional Study and Explanation of Student Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean (SERCE), which concluded that “in mathematics and language pupils from third to sixth grade in the Dominican Republic are far below the average for Latin America and the Caribbean.”[17]
One of the factors behind this poor showing in education is the poor quality of teaching. The teachers in the State system are not well trained, they are overloaded with work and badly paid, and in order for them to earn a minimum acceptable salary they have to do so many classroom hours they have little time to prepare the courses. This makes it impossible for them to keep to the set programmes or to effectively transmit the required educational content to their pupils. Another negative factor is that in the 2005-06 academic year only 43.1% of active teachers had a teaching diploma. The rest were not qualified to teach classes.
It is clear that the country’s education system is not providing good quality education. In the last ten years overall pupil coverage has increased but academic performance is still very poor and consequently most young people finish their studies without the basic knowledge needed to compete in the labour market, which limits their access to decent work.
Conclusion
Overall, in spite of some encouraging progress in achieving national development goals, partidcularly regarding greater life expectancy and reduced maternal and child mortality, the Dominican Republic urgently needs to adopt a far-reaching strategy for sustainable development if it is to overcome serious obstacles, most of which relate to high, and increasing, inequality. This is especially evident in terms of access to health and education, both of which affect the productivity of the labour force, as does continued violence and discrimination against women and Haitian immigrants. In particular, if the quality of education does not improve dramatically, and if the population’s access to it is not extended, it is most unlikely the Government will be able to lead the country along the path to sustainable development.
Wave After Wave of Garbage Hits the Dominican Republic
- Give this article
Workers collecting garbage from a beach in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, this month.Credit...Erika Santelices/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Palko Karasz
- July 23, 2018
Come for the beaches, say tourism ads for the Dominican Republic.
But it has some beaches you might want to skip right now.
The Caribbean nation is known for sapphire seas and ivory beaches, but it is grappling with waves of garbage washing up on its shores, a vivid reminder of the presence of thousands of tons of plastic in the world’s oceans.
Follow Palko Karasz on Twitter: @karaszpalko
A version of this article appears in print on July 24, 2018, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Wave After Wave of Garbage Hits the Dominican Republic. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
- Give this article
Wave After Wave of Garbage Hits the Dominican Republic (Published 2018)
The Caribbean nation is known for sapphire seas and ivory beaches, but it is grappling with sludgy trash washing up on some famous shores.
I wonder if it is garbage drifting in from Haiti?The Dominican Republic is fraught with numerous problems including violence against women and against immigrants from Haiti, the degradation of the environment, and principally inequalities in the education system, all of which make it most unlikely that the Government will be able to bring about sustainable human or economic development in the middle term. There has been progress in some areas, but the country urgently needs more far-reaching social policies that are genuinely geared to the changes needed to ensure a decent future. The country will almost certainly not be able to achieve sustainable development unless the education system is drastically changed to make it more democratic.
The Government of the Dominican Republic has made a commitment to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but the obstacles to doing so are that its policies in crucial areas like social investment, the redistribution of wealth, restoring the environment and in particular improving education are not effective. As explained below, official and also independent studies show the country is a very long way from MDG 1 (the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger), Goal 2 (universal education) and Goal 3 (equality between men and women). In addition to these problems, there has been little progress in environmental sustainability in a land that is severely degraded after decades of over-exploitation, and this raises the question of whether the Government is actually capable of creating a sustainable economy.
In 2006 the Government set up the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPYD), charged with monitoring State policies for social development and reform. The Ministry drew up the Basic Document for a National Development Strategy 2010-2030, entitled “A journey to change into a better country”.[1] This was an attempt to create a consensus that would clarify the steps to be taken to transform the Dominican Republic into a fairer and more equitable nation.
In 2010 UNDP described the Dominican Republic as “A middle income developing country that depends mainly on the services sector and remittances from abroad. Today the level of economic activity is 12 times greater than it was in 1960, and the average growth rate over the last 48 years has been 5.4% per year. Foreign currency income from exports, tourism and remittances is now 15 times greater than it was 40 years ago.”[2] However, in spite of these positive indicators and institutional changes, social investment is at a low level and there has hardly been any improvement at all in education, which means the country is still a long way short of the goals the Government claims it is pursuing.
Persistent inequality
The Dominican Republic has made good progress towards some other MDGs, including infant and maternal mortality and life expectancy at birth, indicators for which have improved significantly in recent years. But, data from the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development shows that in a country of nearly 10 million, the current levels of poverty (34%) and indigence (10%) are very high, [3] although they have fallen considerable since the economic crisis of 2003 when these indicators reached their peak: 43% and 16% respectively.
The UNDP 2010 Human Development Report concludes that the biggest obstacle to the country’s development is inequality.[4] The report also says that education and health service levels have not increased in the same proportion as per capita wealth. The UNDP Human Development Index ranks the Dominican Republic 88th out of 169 countries, with a mean human development rating of 0.663.[5]
The 2006 UNICEF report on the State of the World’s Children stated that “social progress in the Dominican Republic, measured by life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, babies underweight at birth and the adult literacy rate, is very low compared to other countries in the region with the same levels of economic growth.”[6]
ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) reports that since 2004 the Dominican Republic has been third from last among the countries of the Americas in terms of relative investment in social policies, and this is reflected mostly in the population’s poor access to health and education services and social assistance.[7]
Violence and discrimination
In its 2010 report, Amnesty International denounced the Dominican Republic for persistent discrimination against Haitian immigrants and their descendants. These people are the victims of numerous hate crimes that even include lynching, and as illegal immigrants they are exploited in the labour market. Unofficial estimates put the number of Haitians in the country at 800,000 and nearly all of them live in the poorest areas.[8]
In 2007, following a directive by the Central Electoral Council, thousands of citizens, mostly descendants of Haitian immigrants, those becoming stateless, had their identity documents rescinded. This severely restricted their access to health services, education and jobs, and also took away their right to vote. People without the correct documents are liable to arbitrary detention and can be expelled from the country. These regulations are still in force today.
Gender violence is another endemic problem, above all with regard to people under the legal age. In May 2009 the Santo Domingo Prosecutor’s Office said that in 90% of reported cases of sexual violence the victims were girls under 18 years old.[9]
Environmental degradation
In the second half of the 20th century the country’s natural resources were so heavily exploited that most of the forests and coral reefs were devastated, and today some 80% of its river basins are severely degraded.[10] Moreover in many areas there is no adequate sewage system and there are big problems with the distribution of potable water, which together create a widespread health risk. The fact that poverty is so widespread means that a large proportion of the people have to depend on the natural food resources of their own areas, and this inevitably places great strain on these stocks and makes for further degradation of the ecosystem.
Poor education and Government inaction
A discouraging aspect of the current situation is that the State is paying scant attention to education, even though an educated population must be the cornerstone of any future plan to improve social, economic and environmental conditions. Education is the main means whereby a society constructs its values, and it is a key factor in sustainable human development because it will enable future generations to properly manage the country’s social and natural resources.
As well as failing to increase investment in education, the State is even failing to comply with the requirements of the Education Law of 1997 (Law 66-97, which states in Article 197 that starting in 1999 annual public spending on the sector should be at least 16% of total public expenditure or 4% of the estimated GDP for the current year, whichever is higher. [11] Public expenditure on education, which increased from 1.9% to 2.9% of GDP in the period 1996 to 2002, dropped as a consequence of the economic crisis to a paltry 1.5% in 2004. In 2005 it recovered somewhat to 1.9%, but it is still far too low and it has never reached 3% of GDP.
The Ministry of Education has calculated that in the 2000 to 2005 period the proportion of the education system financed by the State decreased to 52% and the proportion contributed by students’ families fell to 39%, while the OECD reports that the shortfall was made up with foreign loans and donations and contributions from private enterprises.[12] Some 24% of the student population attend private educational institutions, which do better than the State system in terms of this basic human right.
In the face of this, the Government is sending confused signals. President Leonel Fernández sowed doubts about the degree to which he was committed to the provisions of Law 66-97 when he claimed there was no correlation between the amounts invested in education and the academic results achieved. According to Fernández, increasing the proportion of GDP allocated to the sector would not guarantee good quality equitable education.[13]
In response, civil society organizations have come together to form the Decent Education Coalition to demand the Government comply with its legal obligations. They have even received support from the business sector; for example the Federation of Industrial Associations (FAI) has backed the Coalition’s campaign. According to the FAI and other similar institutions, “industry in the Dominican Republic cannot become competitive with a workforce that is poorly trained. We believe, as the President says, that the pedagogic style and the curriculum are in need of reform, but this cannot be done without resources.” [14]
Inequality in the classroom
According to a 2008 report from the Latin American Laboratory for Education Quality Evaluation (LLECE), the Dominican Republic has “a dual-quality education model in which the best goes to the richer groups and the worst to the poorer groups, and this has become so ingrained in the culture that many people see it as the natural order of things.”[15] There have been many independent as well as official surveys and studies that lay bare the reality of the situation but nothing has changed, and this is making inequality endemic.
In 2007 the country’s Demographic and Health Survey (ENDESA) found educational disparities that were attributable to differences in income. For example, in the richest quintile of the population the illiteracy rate is only 2% but in the poorest quintile it is extremely high at 26%.[16]
Another evaluation that confirms these findings is the 2008 Second Comparative Regional Study and Explanation of Student Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean (SERCE), which concluded that “in mathematics and language pupils from third to sixth grade in the Dominican Republic are far below the average for Latin America and the Caribbean.”[17]
One of the factors behind this poor showing in education is the poor quality of teaching. The teachers in the State system are not well trained, they are overloaded with work and badly paid, and in order for them to earn a minimum acceptable salary they have to do so many classroom hours they have little time to prepare the courses. This makes it impossible for them to keep to the set programmes or to effectively transmit the required educational content to their pupils. Another negative factor is that in the 2005-06 academic year only 43.1% of active teachers had a teaching diploma. The rest were not qualified to teach classes.
It is clear that the country’s education system is not providing good quality education. In the last ten years overall pupil coverage has increased but academic performance is still very poor and consequently most young people finish their studies without the basic knowledge needed to compete in the labour market, which limits their access to decent work.
Conclusion
Overall, in spite of some encouraging progress in achieving national development goals, partidcularly regarding greater life expectancy and reduced maternal and child mortality, the Dominican Republic urgently needs to adopt a far-reaching strategy for sustainable development if it is to overcome serious obstacles, most of which relate to high, and increasing, inequality. This is especially evident in terms of access to health and education, both of which affect the productivity of the labour force, as does continued violence and discrimination against women and Haitian immigrants. In particular, if the quality of education does not improve dramatically, and if the population’s access to it is not extended, it is most unlikely the Government will be able to lead the country along the path to sustainable development.
Wave After Wave of Garbage Hits the Dominican Republic
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Workers collecting garbage from a beach in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, this month.Credit...Erika Santelices/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Palko Karasz
Leer en español
- July 23, 2018
Come for the beaches, say tourism ads for the Dominican Republic.
But it has some beaches you might want to skip right now.
The Caribbean nation is known for sapphire seas and ivory beaches, but it is grappling with waves of garbage washing up on its shores, a vivid reminder of the presence of thousands of tons of plastic in the world’s oceans.
Follow Palko Karasz on Twitter: @karaszpalko
A version of this article appears in print on July 24, 2018, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Wave After Wave of Garbage Hits the Dominican Republic. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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One thing that can kill tourism in this country is the garbage and the complete lack of respect for controlling garbage by 97% of Dominicans and 99.5 % of Haitians. Even when they have money they do not respect their environment. (The other thing is seaweed)
Reminds me of a hotel in Mallorca Spain I went to during Franco's reign
The toilet had broken long before I checked into the hotel but the crap in the bowl had piled to the top of the seat from those Spaniards apparently with no hygiene who stayed before me.
Of course I walked into the room, never even dropped my bag, exited and went to check out. The hotel clerk couldn't seem to see what the problem was with the accommodation - go figure.
Some thing here - they pile on the garbage like they are filling a frosty ice cream to the max.
People often start businesses here without a real business plan. It’s strange.
Same in Haiti. I can't count how many times I have been asked for $ and then when I asked for their plan, they told they're going to the DR to buy shit and come back to Haiti to sell shit.
Most likely from the rivers, Rio Cumayasa, Rio Soco and Rio Higuamo. In other words from the country side. You can see anything down those rivers, dead cows dead horses. When it gets to the ocean it's drifting with the current west.
Safety in the Dominican Republic
While the Dominican Republic is a beautiful place to retire, there are many safety concerns in the country, according to the U.S. Department of State. Violent crime, armed robbery, homicide and sexual assault are a concern throughout the country. Widely available firearms, drug trading and a flawed criminal justice system all contribute to the danger.The development of a professional tourist police corps, institution of a 911 system in many parts of the country and a concentration of resources in resort areas means these tend to be better policed than urban areas like Santo Domingo, the State Department says.
So, if safety is a top priority for you heading into retirement, the country’s criminal activity should give you pause.
How to Retire in the Dominican Republic
Ashley Kilroy Mar 17, 2022
Do you dream of spending your retirement on a sunny Caribbean beach with a cool drink in hand? There are many alternatives, but one that you may want to consider is the Dominican Republic. From affordable housing to adventurous activities, this Caribbean island nation seems to have something for every retiree. Additionally, their expat laws favor Americans looking to retire there. Retiring abroad can help you extend your retirement savings, and a financial advisor can help you stretch your nest egg further.
Cost of Living and Housing in the Dominican Republic
Overall, the cost of living in the Dominican Republic is about 40% lower than in the U.S., according to March 2022 data from Numbeo. The average American earns about $1,650 per month in Social Security retirement benefits. This means that retirees who move to the Dominican Republic should have no trouble making ends meet.Housing in the Dominican Republic is very affordable. For example, the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in a city center in the U.S. costs $1,376 per month, but only costs $400 per month in the Dominican Republic. If you prefer to purchase an apartment or home there, the average cost per square foot of an apartment in a city center in the U.S. is $330, but in the Dominican Republic is $120. If you want to live even more frugally, you can purchase or rent a home outside of the city center or a bit farther from the beach.
Safety in the Dominican Republic
While the Dominican Republic is a beautiful place to retire, there are many safety concerns in the country, according to the U.S. Department of State. Violent crime, armed robbery, homicide and sexual assault are a concern throughout the country. Widely available firearms, drug trading and a flawed criminal justice system all contribute to the danger.The development of a professional tourist police corps, institution of a 911 system in many parts of the country and a concentration of resources in resort areas means these tend to be better policed than urban areas like Santo Domingo, the State Department says.
So, if safety is a top priority for you heading into retirement, the country’s criminal activity should give you pause.
Getting a Visa in the Dominican Republic
If you want to retire in the Dominican Republic, you will need to get a visa to stay in the country. Fortunately, it is relatively quick and easy to get a retirement visa. The Dominican Republic offers a pensionado, or a retirement visa. You can enter the Dominican Republic on a standard tourist visa, then apply for a retirement visa while in the country. The process can take several months, and many people recommend hiring a local lawyer to help you get all your paperwork in order.
You will need to show proof that you have an income of at least $1,500 per month and other documents, including your birth certificate and a background check.
Healthcare in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic has a three-tier healthcare system. The first tier, which is paid by the government, guarantees free, socialized healthcare for citizens. However, most people end up paying out-of-pocket for medical supplies and various services regardless of which tier they have access to.The second tier, known as the contributive tier, is paid for by employers and their employees. The third tier of healthcare, known as the contributive subsidized tier, is paid for by people whose income is greater than the national average and is also subsidized somewhat by the government. Expats can expect to fall into this third category and will need to purchase private healthcare insurance. Although this is an additional expense, it costs less to see a doctor and receive treatment in a private hospital in the Dominican Republic than in the U.S. International health insurance may cost up to $200 per month and covers most procedures and emergencies, and even some prescriptions.
Taxes in the Dominican Republic
If you plan to earn an income in the Dominican Republic, it is subject to tax. Anyone who spends more than 182 days per year in the country is considered a resident.Social Security and pension benefits are not taxable in the Dominican Republic. However, all residents and taxpayers must pay tax on income from financial investments such as stocks and bonds, certificates of deposits and more.
There is no tax treaty between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, so some people may owe taxes in both countries in some circumstances. Work closely with your financial advisor to understand what the tax implications are of you taking up residence in the Dominican Republic.
I was my understanding that the pensioner residency process to obtain a DR cedula had to be started in the applicants country of origin. The article says it can be started in the DR. Is that correct? Also, I don’t think the author is factoring in the recent high cost of living increases in the DR, electricity costs, used and new vehicle costs, increase in the cost of imported foods, the higher price of gasoline and diesel, etc.
Thanks fort your comments full of insight; simply put: very down to earth.