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In
1505 was founded the Convent of the Friars
of the Order of St. Francis, where the
first rudimentary schools were established
and later housed in the Monastery of Saint
Francis built in 1512.
There, the cacique Guarocuya was
educated and baptized into the Christian
faith with the name of Enriquillo.
The
missionaries of the Order of Saint Dominic
settled in 1510, headed by Fray Pedro de
Córdoba.
The Order requested the Pope to
confer the rank of University to the center
for studies that they directed.
The Pontiff granted their request by
Papal Bull “In Apostulatus Culmine”,
creating thus on October 28, 1538, the
first university in America, named Saint
Thomas Aquinas –today the Autonomous
University of Santo Domingo- center of
great intellectual activity that gave the
city of Santo Domingo the byname Athens of
the New World.
Based
on heritage, many prominent citizens felt a
concern for the need to make education
accessible to all people, until leaving
established in the Constitution the
State’s duty to provide primary education
to all children from 6 to 12 years of age,
and basic education to all nationals that,
for diverse reasons, had not benefited from
this right previously.
The
State’s public education coverage extends
to secondary education. It subsidizes secondary education in private schools,
sustains public higher education in the
Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, and
subsidizes other private universities.
Actually,
public education at the basic and secondary
levels is provided to more that 1.7 million
students in the nation.
Also the State subsidizes superior
education through technological institutes
and academic centers approved by the
Consejo Nacional de Educación Superior
(CONES), the National Council of Superior
Education.
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