NEWS & PRESS RELEASES

 

“What we have seen is the total collapse of the Haitian education system. Half the country’s primary schools and about 15 universities are said to be destroyed”, explains José Alberto Arizmendi, Coordinator of the Dominican and Haitian university project for Aide et Action. “When the earthquake hit, many students were in class. Teachers, professors and students were killed by the earthquake”.

 

Nesmy Manigat, Aide et Action Latin America and Caribbean Head, “the impacts of the earthquake in Haiti cannot be easily quantified at this stage, but they certainly need to be taken into account or they might contribute to an increase in poverty”.

 

Aide et Action, which has been present in the Haitian education sector for about 20 years, is mobilized to rebuild the country. The NGO has also launched new projects to help reorganize it.

 

The priority in the short-term is to help children resume school and finish this academic year. For the schools surrounding Port-au-Prince there is a lot more activity than usual as many children have fled Port-au-Prince after the earthquake. The school capacity must thus be increased. Besides, thousands of people were moved out of the Haitian capital to a safer surrounding and they are unlikely to come back in the ravaged urban area in the short term.

 

In the medium term, primary and secondary school systems in Port-au-Prince and its surroundings need to be rebuilt with anti seismic system. Haitian teachers, many of whom were killed by the earthquake, will need support. The syllabus for Haitian schools will also need to be updated. Such an action will be eased by the Haiti - Dominican Republic universities coordination project led by Aide et Action since 2007. The NGO will use the exchanges and the good relations between the two countries to help rebuild the Haitian superior education system. “It consists in creating relationships between the universities of the two countries so that they can share their problems and solve them together”, adds José Alberto Arizmendi, Head of the project. “They both face an emergency situation which forces them to strengthen their cooperation.”

 

On January 20th Aide et Action met the Superior Education ministry and the Rectors of Dominican universities. “35 institutions said that they were interested by the project”, underlines José Alberto Arizmendi. “The educative authorities then expressed their concerns, their solidarity to help Haitians carry on their studies”. At the meeting, authorities also mentioned the creation of an international fund to help rebuild universities and train new teachers. The World Bank has approved the initiative and Aide et Action has been appointed permanent member of the supervising committee which will guarantee the efficiency and the validity of the projects implemented to rebuild the Haitian superior education system.

 

Aide et Action, which has been present in Haiti since 1989, launched emergency and post-emergency operations after the cyclones destroyed the country and made hundred of casualties in 2008.

 

Find more information about the project in the article entitled “Aide et Action commits to rebuild the Haitian school system”

 

About the Observatory of universities project: These emergency and post-emergency projects are part of the bi-national observatory project. The project, which was launched in 2007 aims at developing further the cooperation between 8 Haitian and Dominican universities. Exchanges and relations between the universities have generated common research projects. They are currently working on common projects to help rebuild Haiti.