Do YOU know the facts?

These statistics (unless otherwise noted) were gathered from UNICEF, World Bank, and US AID Basic Education and Policy Support and American Association of Fundraising Counsel.

• The Dominican Republic is home to 9.2 million inhabitants with a Per Capita GNP of US $3,247 (with the majority of the
  population earning less than $2 a day, this skewed average still only remains at $9 per day).

• The proximity of the Dominican Republic means that its problems often have a direct spillover effect on the United States. For example, the high incidence of poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and social injustice have resulted in sizable emigration. The U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo issues the world's third highest number of immigrant visas to the United States. Roughly one out of seven Dominicans is now thought to live, legally or illegally, in the United States.

• 80% of Dominican students do not get past the 5th grade.

• 85% of poor Dominican parents have never completed primary education.

• An estimated 11% of all Dominican children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition, and, among rural children, this number rises to 16.5%.

• Early childhood education currently consumes only 0.06% of the national education budget.

• “The Dominican Republic’s public investment in education is 1.2% of their Gross Domestic Product.” (UNESCO 2007 Education For All Global Monitoring Report)

• 40% of 14 to 17-year-olds still attend primary school

• Only 2.2% of Dominican 4 th graders were able to reach at least 75% of standards in Math and English for their grade level.

• The child of a mother with no education has only a 28% likelihood of attending school, but that rises to 71% if the mother has completed high school or better.

• Of some 240 billion dollars a year in giving from the USA, only 2% of it goes beyond US borders.

• On average, a typical Dominican student in primary school receives only 2.4 hours of instruction per day. (EDUCA/GALLUP Survey, July 20, 2005)

• In reading comprehension, fifth grade students in Dominican public schools perform at the same level as third grade students in autonomous Dominican private schools.  (Consorcio de Evaluación e investigación educativa Boletín No. 1, May 2006 )

• 60% of those high school graduates who arrive at the [Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD)] do not have the minimum conditions to enter into a program of higher learning. (Roberto Reyna, Rector of the UASD, Listin Diario, March 13, 2006, p. 19.)

• 59% of high-school age youth are not in high school and on average as measured by the Secretariat of Education