Education

Livres en Folie is definitely an annual madness in Haiti. This year the madness seems to be even greater.

Livres en Folie is an idea that came to life in 1995, based on the initiative of UNIBANK and Le Nouvelliste newspaper. We can in all confidence say that this annual Book Fair event in Haiti is one of the biggest cultural events in the country.

The event has moved from two previous location to finally land at the Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre this year. It started as a small event at the beginning and at that time La Promenade in Petion-Ville was more that adequate to handle it. As "Livres en Folie" grew in reputation, volume, so was its popularity. With the passing of time, it was obvious that the original location was inadequate. The next location of Livres en Folie became Cercle Bellevue in Bourdon. Due to yet increase popularity, the organizers last year decided to bring it to Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre at Tabarre.

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The college, Regina Asumpta opened its doors as the first all-girls High School in Haiti's northern region and is today the only institution that operates a primary and secondary school, as well as a university of exclusively female students.

At the time, 1958, under the name of the bishop Albert Francois Cousineau, who traveled to Canada and found the Holy Cross Sisters, who oversee its running, the school was simply an all-girl high school. College Monseigneur Cousineau changed its location soon after opening as well as its name and has retained both changes for over 50 years.

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Oswald Durant was one of the most important poets to come out of a nation chock full of influential, significant writers. Very little information is readily available about his childhood, save that he was born in Cap-Haïtien on the 17th of September, 1840, but the life he led past this period of no record has led him to be likened to the great wordsmiths of Italy and England, Dante and Shakespeare respectively. Also, like most other of Haiti's important writers, Durant had strong political views that, in him, formed aspirations.

Oswald Durant became published in his early thirties with works like 'La Mort de nos Cocotier's, 'Pantoum Triste' , 'Rires et Pleurs', 1883's 'Choucoune', about the comeliness of Haiti's women, and 'Chant National', a poem about Haiti's history that rose to the pinnacle of popularity for its patriotism.

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Seeking to provide the greatest number of students they can with the highest level of education is the edict of the Collège Catts Pressoir in Port-au-Prince on Martin Luther King Avenue. An ambition even more to be admired as, when it was started in October of 1955 by Jeanine Vaval Laroche and her husband Ernest, the college was located then in the tiny room of a house on Nazon Alley.

Special programs included private lessons taught by Jeanine, and the school also catered to students who had difficulties in learning. Very early College Catts Pressoir made a promise to provide competent, learned and charismatic teachers to impart the necessary skills and requisite education through advice and explanation to the students, and they quickly established the confidence of parents, causing the demand for places at the school to rise. This led to a move to a building, currently the computer lab at the new location.

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The Lycée Alexandre Pétion was founded in 1816 by its namesake, Haiti's third president. A high school located in Port-au-Prince, it educated the Haitian ruling class. Government ministers, Parliament members, and many of Haiti's rulers studied there. The school was established to educate the elite class and counted among its former students notable authors as well.

Lycée Pétion maintained its high academic standards for decades, but gradually became eroded by frequent government upheavals, and a stagnant economy as a consequence. For 150 years, the school boasted an excellent French-trained teaching staff. Math and science labs were fully equipped, and when textbooks frayed, or equipment no longer functioned well, it was replaced without hesitation.

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Jerome Pierre Pradel Pompilus was one of the most respected scholars of Haiti. He was born in 1914 and died in 2000. He was born in a town called Arcahaie located in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Pradel was a writer, linguist, grammarian and teacher and defended both French and Haitian Creole within Francophonie. After he completed his high school education, Pradel Pompilus graduated in law from Law Degree in the year 1936. In the same year 1936 he became the professor of Latin and French in Alexandre Petion Port-au-Prince and Toussaint Louverture schools.

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The 19th annual Book Madness happened on May 30th in Tabarre, Haiti. It was held at Sugar Cane Park and 129 Haitian writers were present to autograph copies of their work.

Josette Darguste, Minister of Culture, expressed her appreciation to Unibank and Le Nouvelliste, for their monetary support to make the event a success. In turn, Executive Editor, Frantz Duval of Le Nouvelliste, said he was grateful for the continuing support of President Martelly and the Ministry of Culture for its commitment in promoting Haitian writers. Next to offer his thanks, Unibank spokesman, Guy Supplice, said the Haitian government was to be praised for its fourth year of active involvement in the event. He added 14 rural towns in Haiti would be holding 2013's Book Madness.

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Haiti suffers from a very low literacy level of 53%, well under the 90% average in other South-region countries. A plethora of reasons exist as to why this is so. Private schools teach 90% of the school population, operated by churches, non-government organizations, and communities. The government of Haiti (GOH) spends only a fraction of its budget, 10%, on education for primary and high-school grades.

Haiti's first Constitution stated ". . . education shall be free". And the Constitution of 1987 declares education is "a right for every citizen". But neither of these goals has been realized. Private schools, 75% of them, have received no accreditation from MOE, meaning they are not held to minimum standards.

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Georges Anglade was a Haitian creole writer who was born in Port-au-Price on July 18, 1944. He received his education from École normale supérieure and then and then went on to obtain a diploma degree in Social Sciences and also received a law degree from the Faculty of Law in the year 1965. The same year he moved to Strasbourg. From 1965 to 1969 he studied at Strasbourg's Centre for Applied Geography and went on to obtain a doctorate graduate degree. During September 1969 he moved to Quebec, Canada where he played a very crucial role at Université du Québec à Montréal and founded the Department of Geography with some other learned friends.

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Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague, Haiti is a primary and secondary Roman Catholic school located in Haiti. Freres de l'Instruction Chretienne or F.I.C. or Brothers of Christian Instruction run this school. The official colors of the school are green and red. It is the island nation's most prestigious school that was established in the year 1890 at rue du Center located at downtown Port-au-Prince. It was first opened for students belonging to the age group of 6 and 12. The institution started offering degree courses for the secondary school by the year 1930 and the school experienced a major expansion during the early phase of 1970s.

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