Jacmelian School Story

Par Marie Marcoux and Kamran Khosrowshahi

31/8/95 - Micivih-Zen

When Marcel Laroche was a child, he walked seven kilometers to school in the rural section of Mussoc, in the Commune of La Vallée. That long walk was, for him, the incentive to return to his childhood commune, to farm and to establish in 1988 the Mussoc's only secondary school, College Classique et Professionel de Mussoc, after he had spent years in Port-au-Prince.

Laroche founded the College in a small house in the village. With funding from a Canadian philantrophic organization, he was able to build a sturdy, two-story building where classes were held from 1989 until a year and half ago.

But the College became another victim of the embargo. Laroche could no longer pay instructors their H$ 4-per-hour salaries. With the price of fuel and tap-tap fares skyrocketing, teachers could no longer afford the trips to school which, at the time of the embargo, escalated to H$ 10.

When the school closed, only eight to ten of the 25 enrollees, aged 13 to 18, had been paying their H$ 12 monthly tuition on a regular base to attend grades six through three (the French numbering system for the equivalent to secondary school). Now Laroche believes students would have to pay at least H$ 22 per month for the school to break even.

The school's Canadian funding also dried up during the embargo. Now area secondary school students can no longer study English, Spanish, French, Latin, social sciences, mathematics, geography, physics, algebra and Haitian and world history in this private school. Nor can they study vocational fields like sewing, typing or pastry-making.

Laroche is so discouraged that he's willing to transfer the school to an organization that will respect what he calls school discipline and he agrees to reimburse his building maintenance costs. Although Laroche owns the land, his agreement with the original benefactors requires the building be used for educational purposes for 20 years before Laroche regains full control of the land.

The director nevertheless doubts the school can reopen in October, admitting he hasn't looked for additional funding since the embargo. He laments that difficult conditions are attached to funding for Haitian programs.

As much as Laroche is frustrated with the economic reality of his dream, he remains in Mussoc, the home of his elderly parents, while his sister cares for two of his three children in Port-au-Prince.

Jacmel