Stand Together, Heal Together, Grow Together: Examining the UWI Mona-Haiti Scholarship Initiative

Abstract

IntroductionDespite the inspiRAtionAL stARt to the histoRy oF the Republic of Haiti, since the achievement of independence in 1804 there have been serious issues in one of its most crucial pillars of development - education.1 There are five levels of education available in Haiti, organised by the Ministry of and Vocational Training (MENFP): preschool, fundamental (a combination of primary school and junior high school), high school, vocational training and tertiary education. The school system has been impacted by four main problems, which include a difficult socio-political atmosphere, as evidenced by fourteen changes of government and five military coups since the 1980s; a generally weak macroeconomic performance; continuous increases in the school-age population; and low government budget priority for education.2 It can be argued that it is for these reasons that there were close to 40 percent of Haitians who reported that they had never attended school in 2002-2003,3 and that the total adult literacy rate was slightly less than 50 percent between 2008 and 2012.4In 2006, Haiti began the implementation of an Education for All strategy, with the financial and technical assistance of the World Bank. Among the stated goals of this strategy were a reduction in the high rates of illiteracy by 2015, and government subsidisation of the (relatively high-cost) school fees for primary school children.5 A task force on education and training (hereafter referred to as GTEF) was established on 2 February 2008 to assist in the plans to improve the education system. The mandate included providing recommendations to the Haitian government geared towards improving enrolment throughout the Haitian school system, as well as upgrading the quality of instruction.6 The GTEF was expected to implement this mandate, regardless of changes in government. The Haitian government implemented policies which targeted the improvement and proper organisation of an educational system that was sustainable. As such, enrolment targets set by the World Bank were surpassed and plans were implemented to train 2,500 teachers per year in an Accelerated Teaching Program funded by the International Development Agency.7 Unfortunately, the burgeoning plans for the improvement of Haiti's education sector were soon curtailed.It is impossible to forget the destructive 7.0-magnitude earthquake that impacted Haiti near its capital city, Port-au-Prince, on 12 January 2010. One important result was the devastation that Haiti's entire school system experienced. This resulted in a significant loss to the country, with respect to its physical assets as well as its human resources. There were reported deaths of almost a quarter million people. The higher education sector experienced particularly heavy losses. In the wake of the earthquake, Haitian universities experienced human capital losses of around two hundred teachers and administrators, as well as approximately three thousand students (with figures ranging up to six thousand students as the situation became clearer). This is a significant figure, especially when considering the low enrolment rates at this level of education. At one of Haiti's largest and most prestigious universities - the Universite d'Etat d'Haiti (the State University of Haiti, referred to by its French acronym as UEH) - only three of the eleven faculties were operational after the disaster. As much as 87 percent of the nation's tertiary education sector was completely destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Thirty-two tertiary institutions, most of which were private schools that were under-regulated by the government and of generally poorer quality,8 were destroyed.Following the earthquake, the Haitian government's decisive action addressed the challenges in the education sector by reviving the GTEF, with an extended mandate to guide the rebuilding process. Early post-quake assessment reports of the independent organisation INURED (the Inter-University Institute for Research and Development), based in Haiti, and the Haitian government's GTEF emphasised the immense importance of the tertiary education sector in Haiti's reconstruction and development. …