Educational quality in the Dominican Republic: The call from PUCMM following PISA 2025 results
The rector of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), Secilio Espinal, has made an urgent call to the nation to accelerate the transformation of the Dominican educational system. Although the results of the 2025 PISA tests reflect a slight upward trend, the academic emphasizes that these advances are still significantly far from the goals set by the country.
For Espinal, the indicators obtained in critical areas such as mathematics, science, and reading should not be interpreted as a simple sign of stability. On the contrary, he considers them a wake-up call to deepen and optimize efforts in the quality of education that Dominican students receive.
The country remains stable, with a trend toward improvement, although not the one expected and aspired to. This invites us as a system to continue improving educational quality for learning.
Secilio Espinal, rector of the PUCMM
A national priority challenge
The rector of the PUCMM maintains that the responsibility of raising educational standards goes beyond the functions of the Ministry of Education and must be consolidated as a commitment of the entire society. In this sense, he proposes a strategic alliance between various sectors to achieve significant change:
- Social and business sectors: Unification of efforts to support educational improvement.
- Academia and authorities: Close collaboration to define public policies based on data.
- Political class: Prioritize education above particular interests or partisan differences.
Espinal stressed that better preparation at the primary and secondary levels is vital to ensure the success of young people when they enter universities, where academic and professional demands are notably higher.
Towards a real transformation
The debate arises at a key moment, as the country is in a consultation process to define the future of its educational system. The ultimate goal, according to the rector, is for the stability observed in international evaluations to be transformed into a real qualitative leap that guarantees competitive skills for Dominican youth.
These statements were offered during the commemoration of the 64th anniversary of PUCMM and the Inaugural Lecture of the 2026-2027 Academic Year, an event that included a thanksgiving mass presided over by Monsignor Ramón Alfredo de la Cruz Baldera, Bishop of the Diocese of San Francisco de Macorís and President of the Dominican Episcopal Conference.
