Education
Haitian Government Provides Education Subsidies for 772,000 Children
- Monday, October 03, 2011 10:10 AM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) - With the opening of the school year on Monday, the Presidency announced that 4 subsidies, affecting 772,000 students have been provided to improve the number of children attending classes.
Subsidies range from direct funding for tuition for students, materials to transportation and registration fees. The amount accumulated for the president's National Fund for Education is reported to be on the order of $30 million [US].
A breakdown of the subsidies:
Group A: 142,000 children, ages 6-12, that have never sat in a classroom will be enrolled in private or public institutions. Some of these students that are behind, will be put into accelerated programs to be on par with their peers by the age of 13.
Cost: $14.2 million [US]; $100 [US] per year, per child
Group B: 120,000 children in the Ouest and Artibonite Departments of 1st grade age are enrolled.
Cost: $12 million [US]; $100 [US] per year, per child
Group C: 490,000 children will have registration fees paid for by the government, through a grant by the Clinton Foundation.
Cost: $1.25 million [US] - $2.5 million [US]
Group D: 20,000 children in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of Cite Soleil, Belair, Solino etc. will be enrolled in schools.
Cost: $1.8 million [US]; ~$100 [US] per year, per child
On Thursday the Presidency and school transportation company, Dignite came to an agreement to provide free transportation for all students, to and from school.
Presidential Adviser on Education, Gaston George Merisier, announced on Friday $28 million [US] had been raised from monies collected on international phone calls and international money transfers.
Presidential Adviser, Laurent Lamothe, said that most of the funds were from members of the Haitian Diaspora, to which the presidency acknowledges as making public funded education more possible in Haiti for many of its children.
Related 10.03.2011: Senator Benoit Suspicious of National Fund for Education
Related 09.30.2011: Updates to President's Plan for Education Fall Well Below Expectations
Related 09.29.2011: President Martelly Announces Free Transportation to School for Children in Haiti
Related 09.01.2011: Federation of Teachers Representing 500 Schools Pledge Support for Public Education
Source: Haiti Press Network
