| Ministry of Education | |
| Native Name: | Spanish; Castilian: Ministerio de Educación |
| Headquarters: | Av. Máximo Gómez, Santo Domingo |
| Budget: | RD$ 186,774,494,864.96 (2021)[1] |
| Minister1 Name: | Ángel Enrique Hernández Castillo[2] |
| Website: | https://www.ministeriodeeducacion.gob.do/ |
The Ministry of Education (Spanish: Ministerio de Educación or MINERD) of the Dominican Republic is a government institution in charge of planning, managing and making the country's education system, as well as administering public schools and supervising private centers. By law, this Ministry receives 4% of the Dominican gross domestic product.
It appeared as its own entity on 1934 as the Secretary of State of Education and Fine Arts (Secretaría de Estado de Educación y Bellas Artes), although it wouldn't be until 2000 when it focused exclusively on education. Its headquarters are located at Santo Domingo. Its Minister is Ángel Hernández Castillo, since August 8, 2022.[3]
Since 1844, Dominican education was in charge of the Secretary of State of Justice and Public Instruction (Spanish: Secretaría de Estado de Justicia e Instrucción Pública), which is nowadays the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic. On 1931, this institution was suppressed; its functions in the matter of justice were transferred to the Office of the Attorney General by Law no. 79, and its roles on education and Fine Arts were transferred to the General Superintendency of Education (Superintendencia General de Enseñanza).[4]
Years later, on November 30, 1934, by Law no. 786, the Secretary of State of Education and Fine Arts (Secretaría de Estado de Educación y Bellas Artes) was created, thus replacing the term "public instruction" for education. On 1965, it will become the Secretary of State of Education, Fine Arts and Worship (Secretaría de Estado de Educación, Bellas Artes y Cultos) by receiving functions of the Secretary of State of External Relations. Later on, the office would be renamed as Secretary of State of Education and Culture (Secretaría de Estado de Educación y Cultura) by Law no. 66–97, which redefined the education system of the Dominican Republic.[5]
It would adopt its current attributions on 2000 with the creation of the Secretary of State of Culture, by Law no. 41–00, thus becoming the Secretary of State of Education (Secretaría de Estado de Educación).
It adopted its current name, Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educación), after the 2010 Constitutional reform and the subsequent Decree no. 56-10 which changed the names of all government agencies.[6]
Similar to other Ministries of the Dominican Republic, the Ministry of Education is subdivided into vice-ministries.[7] These are:
Inside the Ministry, other offices are:
Other departments and agencies are:
The Ministry of Education has several institutions affiliated to it, dedicated to the well-being of students and teachers.[8] These are:
The Ministry of Education has a comprehensive list of data and statistics on its website. There you can find a map of all education centers in the country.
According to this website, the number of students by academic year was as follows:
| 2016-2017[9] | 2,749,144 | 2,069,929 | 672,758 | 51,557 | |
| 2017-2018[10] | 2,736,697 | 2,051,250 | 637,940 | 47,507 | |
| 2018-2019[11] | 2,807,279 | 2,090,436 | 669,287 | 47,556 | |
| 2019-2020[12] | 2,761,118 | 2,058,675 | 655,371 | 47,072 | |
| 2020-2021[13] | 2,388,553 | 1,969,632 | 384,302 | 34,619 |