SANTO DOMINGO – Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Education has formally issued a temporary, precautionary suspension of all in-person classes for Tuesday across vulnerable school sites in provinces placed under yellow weather alert, as a slow-moving atmospheric trough continues to dump unstable, high-volume precipitation across swathes of the Caribbean nation. The targeted closure mandate is not a blanket suspension across all alert zones, but specifically applies to educational facilities situated in geographically high-risk locations: campuses sited in flood-prone lowlands, within immediate proximity to fast-flowing rivers and steep-sided ravines, along exposed coastal stretches, or in hilly terrain with documented histories of dangerous landslide activity. The policy was developed in direct alignment with the latest official advisory released by the country’s national Emergency Operations Center (COE), which classified 10 administrative jurisdictions under yellow alert, and an additional seven provinces under lower-level green alert as of the latest update. Jurisdictions falling under the higher yellow alert threshold include the densely populated Greater Santo Domingo metro area, the capital’s National District, and the provincial regions of Pedernales, Barahona, Bahoruco, Independencia, Azua, Peravia, San Cristóbal, and San José de Ocoa. The seven areas designated for green alert status are Elías Piña, Dajabón, La Vega, Monte Plata, Monseñor Nouel, San Juan, and Sánchez Ramírez. The Ministry’s Directorate of Environmental and Risk Management emphasized that the targeted suspension was not implemented arbitrarily, but came after on-the-ground local education officials submitted real-time assessments documenting deteriorating site conditions that posed imminent safety hazards for enrolled students, teaching staff, and school support personnel. To ensure smooth, consistent rollout of the safety measure, national education officials have delegated full coordination and oversight responsibilities to regional and district-level education leadership teams, who are tasked with verifying at-risk campus rosters, notifying families, and arranging for any necessary continuity of learning arrangements for affected communities.
Education Ministry suspends classes in vulnerable areas amid weather alerts
