Why are Our Programs needed in Haiti?
In response to this crisis, Center for Education, Training, and Holistic Approaches, Inc., d/b/a Toussaint L’Ouverture High School for Arts & Social Justice and ReThinkHaiti.org, proposes to develop a replicable, sustainable education system based upon the United Nation’s Model Village concept. In cooperation with the existing Education Ministry and National Education Plan, we are working to establish an Educational Village in each of Haiti’s 133 communes with each Department having both a Bureau of K- 12, pre-School, and Vocational Education and a campus of the Enhanced State University of Haiti.
Each Educational Village will prepare its students to enter careers and/or college and to take part in the economic growth of the region and the civic life of their community. The plan is designed so Village officials and residents will be able to run their own affairs over a ten-year period. Thus, developing a workforce is a major goal while also providing opportunities for motivated students to pursue higher education. Vocational programs will provide training for the service industries, health care, construction, technology and other essential areas. University degree programs will have as their emphasis the development of leaders in all of the areas of society in which critical thinking skills will be required to ensure the future development of Haiti.
As plans for the Education Villages proceed, we continue to work on-site at several schools in Haiti. We believe that the first steps toward developing our sustainable education reform are to train and support teachers and administrators in a foundation that is democratic and dialogic. That is, we train teachers and administrators to engage in and pass on a participatory model of education that prepares students to become the country’s future leaders. Participants in our programs can enhance their ability to impart the vocational education and market skills needed to grow Haiti’s economy while developing what is most necessary to sustainability: the capacity of the population to engage in critical thought.
