Minister Antoine meets with unions on educational issues

Around forty trade unionists from around twenty organisations and trade union platforms took part in a meeting held at the General Inspectorate of National Education on Wednesday 3 July 2024. This initiative by the Minister of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP), Augustin Antoine, aimed to share his orientations in terms of educational policy and to listen to the concerns of the social partners, considered to be “pillars of the education system”, according to a press release from the ministry dated Thursday 4 July 2024.

During the discussions, the number one of the MENFP expressed his willingness to listen to the unionists, taking into account their concerns regarding the conditions of teachers and the violence which has hampered the functioning of many schools, particularly in the metropolitan region of Port-au-Prince and in certain areas of the departments of Artibonite and the North-West.

Augustin Antoine also reaffirmed his determination to consolidate union structures, thus calling for clear collaboration to preserve social gains and defend others, in the interest of teachers and, more broadly, of Haitian schools.

This was an opportunity for the social partners to raise several issues, including the scattering of the ministry’s central services across various sites, the dysfunction of the OFATMA insurance system, repeated delays in the payment of employees’ salaries, personnel management, and the problems of schools that have been victims of violence. The case of schools that have been forced to close under threat from armed groups, and others that have been looted or burned, was also raised.

“This was indeed a meeting that inaugurated a cycle of very open exchanges between the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) and the unions operating in the education sector,” concludes the ministerial press release.

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