Education - Haiti Observer Blog

So far, it seems that we can not have an exact number. And why is that?

Remember that this is Haiti and we work under different standards. We are kind of unique in the way we see things

Listen to this, President Michel Martelly told the Haitian Diaspora community in Miami during a visit in Florida in December 2012 that the National Fund for Education, established in May 2011, had accumulated $16 million in US and not a penny of this money had been touched by the Haitian government.

The problem I have with this statement from our president is that there was an account given already and by someone that should know exactly how much money they have collected for the National Fund for Education.

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Tiresias Simon Sam was born on May 15, 1835, in Grande-Riviere-du-Nord. Tiresias was born with leadership skills and had a lot of passion for his country. Before being a president he served as a general and then a minister of war under Florvil Hyppolite. He was chosen as the acting president after the death of Hyppolite and he was elected as the president of Haiti on March 31, 1896.

Tiresias valued education and always choose educated people in his government. He was determined to make Haiti a better place and for sure Haiti developed greatly during his era. He increased jobs opportunities, improved transport, contracted U.S to build street car in Port -au-Prince and built a railway line to connect Cap Haitian to Grand Riviere du Nord and Port -au-Prince to Cul-de-Sac. Tiresias also built a civil court in Cap-Haitian and updated the school of science, Engineering and architecture.

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Royal Marketing sponsored and hosted the Royal National Genius college competition during Easter week of 2013. The competition, in its 12th year of existence, seeks to create standards of excellence within the ranks of young people pursuing their higher-education goals.

This year schools from five departments of Haiti participated in the week-long battery of testing to vie for the Royal National Genius title. Preceding the finals of the competition, Royal Marketing held preliminaries. Teams made up of eight students each were tested for their expertise in math, science, history, and social studies. In addition, they were also asked questions about current events at the local, national, and international levels.

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Digicel, an active partner with the government of Haiti (GOH), held its annual award presentation ceremony to recognize outstanding contributions and achievements of entrepreneurs. Eight awards were handed out at the event with 700 attendees, among them GOH officials and representatives of the private sector.

The top-award recipient, Haitian entrepreneur Lionel Pressoir, received awards in two categories. He won the coveted "Digicel Entrepreneur of the Year 2012" in addition to the "Digicel Education, Tourism, and Culture" award.

Pressoir won for his involvement in reviving the Haitian tourism industry. He started Lojistik SA to create tailored travel packages to incentivize travelers to come to Haiti. Before his involvement in the tourism industry, Pressoir successfully set up two apparel companies that hired 650 employees. In addition to his business activities, he established Foundation Destination Haiti to support non-government organizations helping in the country's reconstruction efforts.

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Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer the prime minister of the country attended the annual general meeting of the heads of state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) which opened on Wednesday at St. Lucia. It was during this time that he reaffirmed his intentions to offer scholarships to some Haitian students in a bid to counter attack the recent misfortunes that have visited the country since 2010.

In 2010 the country suffered a massive earth quake attack that let the country in a state of poverty and beyond reconstruction. However, with the many undying hearts in the country, most of the structures have been replace or renovated to what they were initially while some are actually better than they were before. There however is still the issue of the many hard hit families and unfortunate children who were left by their parents during the disaster.

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Upon his election in April 2011, Martelly vowed to provide free education to Haitians. He went on with this plan by launching the National Education Fund (FNE), which was supposed to be funded by taxes collected from international calls and money transfers. Even though the constitution denies the president the power to levy taxes, the government pushed through with Martelly's plan.

The program sounded promising but six months after its implementation, concerns started to arise, with people asking where the fund is being used. Martelly himself said he didn't know the exact amount the plan has collected so far and pointed journalists to CONATEL, which is the one managing the fund. CONATEL then revealed that only Digicel and COMCEL were included in their accounts. No one can say how much the fund is. Some said it's $28 million, while others insisted that it's only $2 million.

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The National Education Plan, a program initiated by President Michel Martelly in 2011 to provide free education to all Haitian kids, have been criticized over and over again. This is not surprising because of the lack of progress caused by the program.

A lot of people might have been asking where the money from the program has gone?

Why is it that many children are still unable to study and why teachers are not paid properly?

Different organizations and individuals concerned about the program have aired their opinions and they all centered on the education plan's failure. But before one can determine whether the program failed or succeeded, it is necessary to understand the program and hear people's opinions about it.

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Project Cyber Tap Tap has been launched by Martelly, President of Haiti at the National Palace. Many of the youngsters from the disadvantaged areas in Haiti can benefit from this newly designed project. Awareness of ICT or Information Technology and Communication is expected to increase.

Free Access to the Internet

All credit goes to Cyber Tap Tap. Educational games on websites on the internet can be accessed free of charge by high school students. Adequate training will be imparted to instructors, guarantees the Head of State.

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A large number of gifts for graduates who are now going to work are widely available in the markets. Any graduate who is going to start work will really feel excited on receiving some of the most wonderful gifts. Parents, relatives, near and dear ones or friends may want to gift the graduate and so select something cool as per the choice of the recipient.

There is no need to feel at a loss for ideas since the internet is a great source of information. Those interested, can get some of the best ideas on gifts for graduates on the web too. Some of the gift items, a graduate is sure to like are electric sheets or blankets, luggage and the tags along with luggage with the address and name, a small sized refrigerator, linen for the apartment or the dorm room, choice stationery with the latest address and name printed on it etc.

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The Haiti Education Ministry held a planning meeting on the Education Act recently. In attendance were the Board of Directors of the National Association of Borlettes Keepers (NABT); Prime Minister Lamothe; Presidential Representative Doré; and Minister of National Education and Vocation Training (NEVT) Pierre.

The meeting was called to talk about the government of Haiti's (GOH) plan for Universal Schooling Program Free and Mandatory (USPFM). The GOH wants the NABT to become familiar with long-range goals of the Education Act, and create a Memorandum of Understanding with the GOH.

The NABT and the National Fund for Education (NFE) are stakeholders for this initiative. They are waiting for Parliament to approve NFE funds to start building schools that will offer free public education. The NABT has been a cooperative body, eager to comply with requirements necessary to help offer free public-education access.

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