by Deborah Dimmett, University of Arizona
Haitian families struggle to send their children to school. Although there is no tuition for attending national schools, parents who earn $1 or less a day still have to find the means to purchase textbooks, supplies, uniforms, and pay the registration fees of $20 to $30 per year if their children are to attend school. Many families make the initial investment in their children’s education through Grade 3. However, the cost of schooling increases after 3rd grade. In fact, it is not unusual for schools to send students home who come without textbooks. This begins the trend of children dropping out of school after they complete the primary grades.
This summer Ecole Nacionale du Pont-Congo with assistance from the Tucson Area Reading Council (TARC) took a major step to providing $200 worth of textbooks for the intermediate grades, thus, increasing the chance that parents of students will find the transition to the intermediate grades more affordable. Class sets of textbooks are now available for students to check out during the day.
Mr. Wilneau Dieudonné, the school’s director, founded the school in 2007 when he observed that children in the area had to walk up to 4 hours to go to the nearest school. Since that time, his school has grown from a very small classroom built as a lean-to with walls made of plastic and metal sheets. He made an appeal to Save the Children in 2011 when his small school could not meet the demand. Save the Children built six classrooms for the 285 students that attend. This number includes 63 students in preschool/kindergarten. They manage with only eight teachers (including himself). It has since become a national school that compensates its teachers what is equivalent to $180 a month. However, public school teachers in Haiti often go months with no pay at all. Though Mr. Dieudonné says it’s tough keeping them because of the state’s delay in payment, the parents and community pull together to help out the teachers when hardship raises the possibility that they may not be able to continue teaching.
Given the tenacity of the director, teachers, and parents, the TARC is hopeful that their collaboration with the school will continue. If you are interested, please join the Tucson Area Reading Council or helping with its international projects.
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- Themes: Deborah Dimmett
- Descriptors: Debates & Trends, Student Connections, WOW Currents
We certainly take a free, quality education for granted in the United States. I grew up doing mission work in Haiti from the time I was 3 years old and have witnessed first hand how the corruption of the Haitian government has deprived children of the education they deserve. I was just in Haiti two weeks ago and had many conversations with my Haitian friends about education. They said some teachers at the national school that they know have went over a year with no pay! They stay because the government promises money is coming and if they quit, they won’t receive any money when it comes, even for the months they worked for no compensation. They said they work for hope. Understandably though, not every teacher is willing to show up to work every day for no pay. The result is a horrendous teacher attendance record (not that I can blame them) which results in an even lower quality education. I really get quite infuriated when I think of how the Haitian government has withheld the right of education from its people all these years. One of my Haitian friends I was talking to last week said that the government doesn’t want the people to learn to read and write. This does not surprise me- with literacy comes understanding and empowerment which makes citizens more difficult to manipulate and suppress. As a public educator in the United States who has a huge piece of my heart in Haiti, this is so hard for me to deal with. My recent trip has renewed my passion for fighting for education for Haitian children. I just started up a Go Fund Me account for one of my long time Haitian friends who is trying to start up a school that would pay a high enough salary to attract quality teachers, while charging a low enough tuition (or no tuition at all) to needy families. It is frustrating that so much effort has to go into trying to provide children with an education they deserve, but I’m ready for the battle! It’s awesome to hear about organizations like the Tucson Area Reading Council and countless others who are using the resources we are so blessed with here in the U.S. to help in Haiti. Keep up the good work!