UNDER PRESSURE, DOMINICAN AGENCIES LET HAITIAN CHILDREN ENROLL IN SCHOOL
(Dominican Today) -

SANTO DOMINGO- The Education Ministry and the Immigration Agency on Wednesday agreed to allow foreign children to enroll in school, even if they don’t meet the requirement of legally residing in the country. Immigration director Jose Ricardo Taveras didn’t specify whether the ban would be repealed.

The measure comes after pressure from various pro-Haitian rights organization, including the Centro Bono, who called the ban on enrollment a violation of human rights, and of several international conventions signed by Dominican Republic.

Nonetheless, Taveras and Education minister Josefina Pimentel noted that accepting those students doesn’t mean their immigration status would be legalized. They also announced a new fund to help document 24,000 undocumented foreign students, at an average cost of RD$1,200 each.

Pimentel said of the 54,808 foreign students in Dominican schools, 33,000 are Haitian and 24,000 of those are undocumented.

The officials also announced an interagency strategy with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Central Electoral Board, to study the issue of the immigrants aimed at registering them in the latter’s Book of Foreigners.