Dominican Republic 2012 Practicum

Schools divisions in the Dominican republic are divided into 2 different divisions, public and private.

Schools in the DR

Public schools are schools for the children in the general public, similar to Canada. However, public schools in the Dominican are much poorer then public schools in Canada. Some schools in the Dominican do not even have supplies to teach kids proper education. Some schools only have the supplies to teach kids basic skills like writing letters and making a signature. Public schools suffer mainly because of the Government in the DR. The Government on the DR only funds 2% of the countries overall income to education unlike Canada where education is paid for by taxes.

Public Schools

Private Schools

Private schools are much different from public schools in the Dominican. Private schools are schools that are paid for individually, so parents who send their kids to private schools are have to pay for it. Children who go to a private school receive a much better education. The Kids Create program was designed for toddlers to use their imagination to learn.

I found the Dominican people very traditional to their culture. For example, the people there all knew how to dance to their music. It seemed like everyone can do the salsa. Canadian culture seems like it has strayed away form their traditions, then again there are many different cultures here in Canada. The Dominican people take their culture seriously.

Dominican Culture

We toured around Santo Domingo and saw some of the history there.

5th Best experience

We saw all the schools in Santo Domingo. There are large differences between the public and private schools.

4th Best experience

We got to spend the day with the college students in the Dominican. We looked at the dorms and talked. Although we were from different places, we seemed to have the same ideas about helping others.

We also got to tour the chocolate factory.

3rd Best Experience

Playing with the kids was really fun. We got to do stories with the children in Porto Plata. It was amazing to see how the kids their could use their imagination and create a story. The kids in Neyba on the retreat centre were so fun to play with. They were so amazed to play with us and just have fun with us.

2nd Best Experience

My best experience in the Dominican was working in Neyba. The work was hard and the heat was intense, but I feel that the work we did in Neyba was the most beneficial for the people.

Best Experience