8530: Dominican Public schools open to all children (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Merrie Archer <MArcher@nchr.org>

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ONE
http://www.dr1.com
The best internet resource for information on the Dominican Republic
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DR1 Daily News -- Monday, 2 July 2001
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1. Public schools open to all children
Vice President and Minister of Education Milagros Ortiz Bosch announced her
department would soon issue a resolution instructing public schools
nationwide to admit all children, regardless of whether they have a birth
certificate or not. The announcement was made during the First International
Symposium on Diversity and Exclusion Problems organized by the Institute of
Dominican Studies of the New York City College.
The measure will primarily benefit the children of indigent Haitian
migrants. While many schools in the past have been flexible about admitting
children without birth certificates, some have imposed the ruling. The mere
existing of the ruling has served as a deterrent for parents to try to
enroll their children. As a result, thousands of the offspring of Haitian
immigrants have been left out of school, reducing their chances of doing
better than their parents. 
Hundreds of thousands of indigent Haitian immigrants arrive and live in the
DR without any documentation whatsoever. The parent's lack of documentation
makes it difficult for the children to get documentation. Efforts of the
Haitian Embassy to this end have been very timid, leaving the burden of the
undocumented persons on the DR. 
Several non-governmental agencies, are lobbying for the Dominican government
to issue Dominican citizenship to the thousands of Haitian immigrants, so as
to regularize their status. Dominican governments have chosen over the years
to not do so under the understanding it would only serve as an incentive for
an increase in the immigration of thousands of more indigent Haitians. 
The Mejia administration is supporting business initiatives to create jobs
for Haitians in Haiti and along the frontier so as to reduce migration to
other areas of the DR.