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The Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic (Minerd) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MIREX) signed a cooperation agreement that will allow the national tests to be administered in Dominican consulates abroad.
The measure will especially benefit young baseball players signed by Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations and students who emigrate with their families before completing their education in the country.
Furthermore, this initiative seeks to prevent these students from being excluded from the Dominican secondary school graduation system due to mobility or residence abroad, and thus guarantee the continuity of their academic career.
The agreement, signed by the Minister of Education, Luis Miguel de Camps , and Minister Roberto Álvarez , establishes a permanent coordination mechanism between both institutions so that Dominican students living abroad can complete the evaluation requirement necessary to finish high school under the Dominican education system.
“There are thousands of young Dominicans who currently live abroad and yet still aspire to complete their Dominican high school diploma. As a nation, we have a responsibility to respond to this reality. The world has changed, and so have educational pathways. Therefore, the education system must be able to adapt, better meet the needs of students, and develop more accessible solutions,” stated Minister De Camps.
For his part, Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez highlighted that the agreement strengthens the protection of the educational rights of the Dominican diaspora and expands the scope of consular services directed to communities abroad.
“We live in an era marked by increasing human mobility; many Dominicans reside outside the country for family, academic, work, or sporting reasons. This reality, far from distancing them from the nation, should motivate us to strengthen mechanisms that allow them to keep open the paths to learning, training, progress, and contact with their country of origin,” Álvarez added.
According to the agreement, the selected consulates will function as headquarters centers for the administration of the evaluations, under security and supervision protocols coordinated between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs .
The agreement stipulates that students who have completed secondary education in the Dominican Republic or whose studies have been officially accredited by the Ministry of Education will be eligible to access the service . Those interested must apply for registration at the corresponding consulate or directly to the Ministry of Education at least one month prior to the exam date.
Likewise, they agreed that Dominican students residing abroad may choose to take pending materials from previous years, by registering on a platform that will be enabled by the Ministry of Education for such purposes and that will be valid for the rest of the year, automatically appearing in the calls for applications.
One of the most important elements of the agreement is the institutionalization of a formal pathway for the Dominican student diaspora, which until now depended, in many cases, on transfers to the country or limited administrative processes to complete national assessments.
In addition to providing physical spaces for the application of the tests, MIREX will be responsible for the international transfer of the evaluation materials through diplomatic pouch, including booklets and answer sheets, while Minerd will assume the preparation, coding and technical custody of the instruments.
The agreement also establishes strict security protocols to preserve the confidentiality of the tests and the integrity of student data. Materials must remain sealed and under restricted access until the exact moment of their administration.
The institutions also agreed to create joint mechanisms to manage student applications and to evaluate the possibility of enabling specialized care in consulates with high demand for the service.
Another key aspect is that the Ministry of Education will train and certify the staff responsible for administering the assessments abroad, including coordinators and examiners, in coordination with consular authorities. The agreement also opens the possibility of collaboration with local educational institutions in the host countries to support the process.
This agreement seeks to create the security conditions in our consulates so that Dominican students residing abroad who are duly authorized to participate in the corresponding call for the National Tests can do so, thus guaranteeing their right to complete secondary education and contributing to the expansion of their opportunities for employment or continuation of their educational path.
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