Last week the Board of the National Office of Partnership in Education (ONAPE) which had invited during this extraordinary session, the Departmental Directors of Education (DDE) of the North-East, Artibonite and West presented a preliminary report on the recorded attacks on more than a dozen schools and the general situation in the country affecting the schools.

Deeply alarmed by these attacks and the damage already recorded in the targeted schools, whether in terms of infrastructure, furniture, teaching materials, IT infrastructure, school canteen, but especially archives.

It was proposed to explore the creation of a public-private support fund for affected schools and for the renewal of looted school feeding stocks. In addition, the members of the Council would like the community police services assigned to education (EDUPOL) to be extended to provincial towns, particularly in Artibonite, in order to contribute to a good school environment.

At the beginning of the week, an evaluation meeting took place. Beyond the planning of major back-to-school issues, the recent attacks recorded against schools across the country were at the center of the discussions.

It was a question of making an inventory of the damage caused during these attacks in order to consider what type of support provided in order to accompany these schools for the next school year.

The DDEs of the North-East, Artibonite, North-West and Grande-Anse have established an alarming record of the level of violence of these attacks against public and private schools. All the schools attacked had school canteens or cafeterias...

Minister Manigat and Meniol Jeune Director General of the Ministry say they are waiting for a full report from the DDEs concerned with a precise assessment and the repair costs for the follow-up to be given within the framework of the Public-Private Support Fund which will be created for this purpose.

Manigat announced the creation of an emergency fund through the National Education Fund (FNE) to help the schools concerned, but the Ministry does not undertake to fully cover the losses, stressing that it is easy to buy books but for the furniture, it will take time…

He also instructed the Departmental Directors on a communication campaign to be carried out in the field on the need to protect schools which are community property and workspaces for teachers. The departmental directors are also called upon to visit the heads of schools who are victims of these attacks in order to provide them with the moral support of the Ministry, Note that the first evaluations in the departments concerned (Northeast, Artibonite and North-West) refer to more than twenty schools affected, including 16 in Artibonite. victims of violence, looting and fire...

SL/ HaitiLibre