MICHES, Dominican Republic – By the end of last year, Fundación Tropicalia’s School Recovery and Maintenance Program (Programa Recuperación y Mantenimiento de Escuelas – PRyME) had benefited ten schools in terms of infrastructure improvement and maintenance thanks to the support of the communities who took ownership of their schools and worked to improve them.

During 2011, three schools were recovered: Escuela Km. 10, Escuela Profesora Gisela Ruperto in La Sabanita and Escuela El Guaco in Guarón. These schools are added to the other seven (Escuela Básica de Hicaco Blanco, Escuela Rural Turística El Cedro, TV Centro La Gina, Escuela La Mina de Oro, Escuela La Javilla on Km. 6, Escuela Los Urabos and Liceo Padre Daniel of Miches) which have been renovated by PRyME since 2008. These efforts have benefitted close to three thousand students and more than 60 teachers in the region.
According to William Phelan, President of Fundación Tropicalia, “PRyME focuses on organizing communities, which under a requirement determine their primary needs and based on these, we work together on their school”.

It is important to remember that the basis for sustainable development is education. With that in mind, Fundación Tropicalia along with the people from Miches and the Ministry of Education has implemented this school recovery and maintenance program, so that the community will be capable of promoting its own progress.