School dropout affects all 32 provinces of the Dominican Republic in the 2024-2025 academic year, according to data from the Ministry of Education. This phenomenon reveals deep inequalities between rural, urban, and border provinces, where poverty and lack of services worsen student abandonment.
Provinces with the highest rates of school dropout
Elías Piña registers the highest school dropout in the country, at 7.32%. It is followed by Pedernales at 5.59%, both marked by social vulnerability and scarce economic opportunities. La Altagracia reaches 4.80%, while Bahoruco (4.71%), Azua (4.63%), Duarte (4.40%), San Juan (4.27%), Monte Cristi (4.26%), and Barahona (4.10%) complete the group of high rates. These figures highlight how school dropout is concentrated in areas with limited access to transportation and schools.
Intermediate school dropout: the challenge extends
Other demarcations show rates close to the national average. Valverde reaches 4.51%, Hermanas Mirabal 3.89%, Independencia 3.82%, San Pedro de Macorís 3.78%, Peravia 3.66%, Samaná 3.55%, Santiago Rodríguez 3.49%, La Romana 3.46%, Santo Domingo 3.27%, Distrito Nacional 3.18%, María Trinidad Sánchez 3.14%, Monte Plata 2.83%, and San Cristóbal 2.71%. In high school, factors such as child labor, teenage pregnancy, and migration drive school dropout.
Areas with lower school dropout and structural patterns
Provinces with low rates
In Central Cibao, La Vega leads with 2.39%, followed by Hato Mayor (2.38%), Monseñor Nouel (2.34%), Sánchez Ramírez (2.31%), Espaillat (2.29%), Puerto Plata (2.25%), Dajabón (2.21%), and El Seibo (2.18%). Better infrastructure and connectivity reduce abandonment, although it persists.
Historically, school dropout in the Dominican Republic has exceeded 5% annually since 2010, according to World Bank reports, aggravated by the pandemic which raised rates to 8% in 2020-2021. Experts such as educators from INAFOCAM attribute the problem to rural poverty, with Elías Piña among the poorest according to INDEC.
- Key factors: Structural poverty in border provinces.
- Informal labor and internal migration.
- Lack of motivation in high school.
The pattern is clear: school dropout grows in rural and border areas, demanding territorially focused policies to retain students and break the cycle of inequality.