Top government leaders in the Dominican Republic have launched a comprehensive multi-faceted operational strategy to lay the groundwork for the 2026-2027 school year, addressing every critical pillar of public education from enrollment and educator support to infrastructure upgrades, learning materials, student welfare and transit access.
President Luis Abinader joined Education Minister Luis Miguel De Camps to formally present the plan, which has undergone coordinated development and preparation since earlier this year. A core component of the strategy is a RD$1.251 billion school voucher program designed to ease the financial burden of back-to-school costs for low and middle-income families across the country. In a proactive move to avoid common back-to-school supply shortages, education officials have also accelerated the distribution of 8 million textbooks and workbooks, which will reach more than 2.08 million students enrolled in the nation’s public education system ahead of the first day of classes.
On the infrastructure front, the Ministry of Education has set ambitious construction and safety targets. The agency expects to complete construction and open 1,509 new classrooms by the end of August this year, and will break ground on 266 additional new school facilities before December. As part of ongoing national seismic safety upgrades, authorities have identified 60 public school buildings with the dangerous structural flaw commonly referred to as “short columns”, and have already finished structural reinforcement work on 19 of these high-risk buildings, with remaining upgrades scheduled to be completed in the coming months.
The government also emphasized major expansion of the National Student Transportation System, known locally as TRAE. The system now operates a fleet of 1,871 buses across 837 fixed routes spanning all 31 of the Dominican Republic’s provinces, providing transit access to 6,370 public schools across the country. To boost student safety during commutes, a new centralized monitoring center tracks every bus in the fleet in real time, allowing authorities to respond quickly to any emergencies or route disruptions.
Education authorities outlined that the overarching goal of the new strategy is to deliver a seamless, stress-free start to the 2026-2027 academic year, while making long-term, systemic improvements to public education infrastructure, learning resources, transit accessibility and overall student well-being across the nation.