Father Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected president of Haiti for a second term. The international community has much concern that the election process had not been totally democratic, but the cheers and hope for a better life come from the vast majority of the Haitians who see in Aristide one of their own.

Teachers Together was established in 2004 and is a non-profit organization interested in improving the quality of education in Haiti. This network of educators believes the role of education is to empower individuals to improve their lives and communities through understanding their physical and social world and then focusing on solving the problems.

Although many educational projects have been implemented throughout Haiti, the exchange of experiences and materials is minimal. By using existing resources in Haiti, coordinating international volunteers, and supporting projects initiated by Haitian educators, new methods and new technologies can be used to immediately alleviate some of the extreme problems of the educational system. Teachers Together supports programs and individuals whose mission it is to improve Haitian education through teacher training, curriculum development, and material development.

The program focuses on:
Furnishing appropriate cultural and language training, curricular materials, and in-country resources for educational programs and volunteers
Providing communication resources - developing and maintaining an educational website, providing independent consultant contact information, maintaining access to governmental, university, and non-governmental agencies invested in Haitian education
Pairing volunteer resources with the needs and interests of the Haitian educational community
Supporting the design, development, and production of modern educational materials (textbooks, charts, maps, teaching guides, etc.) and their effective dissemination to the educational community
Training teachers in utilization of modern educational practices and materials available

Teachers Together requests specific funding from Global Ministries for a program that will provide secondary teachers of Jeremie, Haiti, with a base course of pedagogical training. The program will introduce, and then consistently reinforce, modern teaching practices for a group of teachers who have demonstrated leadership and will be expected to model the program in their own schools.

This project will provide substantial, utilitarian, and continuing teacher education by providing: a summer basic education course, access to the University of Technology Grande Anse, monthly update seminars throughout the year, and training to access and obtain materials throughout the internet, the radio, and various supporting organizations.

The course focus will be on alternatives to traditional techniques--methods that respect the rights of the child, stress relevant content, and focus on comprehension, evaluation, and application to solve problems rather than memorization of knowledge. Often teachers have been provided little background in the content area that they are teaching, so content materials will be presented. The program will be continued and modified for three years in Jeremie and then expanded, if successful, into primary education areas and potential other geographical areas. It is hopeful that this program will serve as a model for other rural areas.

To read a recent report about the work of CONASPEH click  here.