Pierre Josué Agénor Cadet, the Minister of National Education and Mgr. Launay Saturné, President of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti (CEH) in the presence of several representatives of the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education (CEEC) and members of the Minister's cabinet, signed a protocol cooperation agreement between the two institutions aimed at supporting presbyteral schools.

State support, through the Ministry of National Education, will consist of financial support and other support in educational materials likely to improve the functioning of these schools, which generally work in great precariousness. For the Minister Cadet, it is about strengthening the presbyteral schools so that they can better fulfill their mission of supporting young people and promoting quality education that facilitates academic success. He took the opportunity to greet and thank the Catholic Church for its contribution to the education of Haitian children.

According to Article 3 of this Protocol (which includes 9 articles), the Ministry proposes each year a budgetary allocation in order to support the presbyteral schools in their mission. The agreement, which comes into force from the 2020-2021 academic year, runs for three years and is renewable, with the consent of the parties.

The CEEC, which acts on behalf of the CEH, must provide, for its part, a periodic report on the use of funds as well as an activity report, in accordance with Article 4 of this agreement.

A bi-partite committee of four members is responsible for the implementation and monitoring of this agreement. Its mission is, among other things, to develop the annual plan of activities to be carried out according to a well-defined schedule and to identify all the necessary resources to facilitate the implementation of the activities.

Mgr. Saturné said he was happy to see this initiative come to fruition for the benefit of presbyteral schools, calling that these schools "belonging to the Catholic education sub-sector, founded and administered by the parishes, constitute a category of schools that are rather disadvantaged at all points of sight but nevertheless rendering invaluable services to the Nation for more than one hundred years."

HL/ HaitiLibre