“Men anpil, chay pa lou” in Haitian Creole (or “many hands lighten the load” in English) is a Haitian proverb that exemplifies Nedgine Paul Deroly’s strategy of collective action to reimagine the Haitian education system. It is a strategy rooted in an appreciation of Haitian cultural practices which once shaped the island nation’s impact as a global leader in social justice.
Nedgine entered elementary school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti starting kindergarten at three years old donning bright hair ribbons, a staple for Haitian schoolgirls. But unlike many children in Haiti whose formal education on average ends after only five years, Nedgine has spent the rest of her life immersed in education — first as a student, and later, as a visionary reformer.
Nedgine established Anseye Pou Ayiti or APA in 2014 to raise educational outcomes for all Haitians and create a movement for educational justice by recruiting and equipping outstanding local teachers. These educators or “teacher-leaders” are changing existing mindsets and social norms of what Haitian people are capable of, using education as the tool to catalyze this asset-based attitude shift.
Traumatizing colonial rule in Haiti and devastating natural disasters have conditioned many Haitians to believe that the country holds more problems than solutions. To combat the cynicism many Haitians have about their power and capacities as a people, APA integrates healing from these traumas into their work. The visibility of solutions, as opposed to just the publicity of problems, is a fundamental part of how APA is trying to scale deep into the Haitian community.
Over the past five years, 230 teacher-leaders have been recruited for the two-year APA fellowship, teaching over 11,000 students across 80 partner schools. Classrooms led by these APA teacher-leaders have an 85% average passing rate—more than double the rate of the national average (41%).
As Ruth Joseph, a teacher-leader from the 2017 cohort said, “I urge us all to work together for our country to change. Our collaboration is essential. It is I, you, them, all of us who must contribute to the work to reach the level it should in Haiti.”
Vestiges of Colonialism
Education as a human right was enshrined in the earliest Haitian constitutions after the Caribbean nation’s revolutionary founding in 1804, becoming the world’s first Black republic. Education was deemed so important that schools were built in almost every community on the island. Attendance was soon made mandatory by law, and quality was prioritized.
However, over 200 years later, Haiti’s education system has deteriorated under the influence of colonialism, becoming estranged from Haiti’s rich culture and increasingly rigid in its implementation. Over the course of the 20th century, quality plummeted as schools transitioned from being approximately 90-percent public to 90-percent private after massive disinvestment.
According to Nedgine, the current Haitian curriculum has also been infiltrated by the control and oversight tactics informed by past colonial systems — methods of instruction that are reliant on rote memorization, corporal punishment, and French as the language of instruction.
Demonstrating how rote teaching methods reflect vestiges of colonialism: “Repeat after me: as the teacher, I am the sole bearer of knowledge. I don’t need you to collaborate; just memorize what I’m giving you because I know everything. And then your test results will tell me if you’re worthy of moving forward and being employed,” Nedgine repeated in a robotic voice.
The Solution is Haitian
Nedgine’s educational journey was in part shaped by the close connection she forged with her teachers. She excelled academically, and her knack for history led her to a bachelor’s degree in the subject at Yale.
During her undergraduate career and her post-graduate studies at Harvard, some of the biggest questions she grappled with was why fewer than 30% of students in Haiti reach the 6th grade, less than 1% reach university, and only 20% of teachers are formally trained.
Nedgine’s passion for education grew into a professional vocation and she became determined to help change these staggering statistics for Haitian youth. After years of trips back and forth to Haiti– including listening tours and searching for ways to meaningfully contribute to the cause of educational equity – Nedgine founded Anseye Pou Ayiti.
Nedgine mentioned, “I wasn’t a fan of compiling problems — we knew what the problems were — but compiling the solutions and then being put in touch with other young Haitians like myself, who said, ‘let’s do something together.’”
Nedgine discovered that one of the most effective ways to foster a passion for education in children is through equipping teacher-leaders, who can reflect Haitian traditions and respect local community values – then embody them in their work in both classrooms and across their communities.
A crucial aspect of APA’s strategy is not only bringing Haitian traditions back into the classroom, such as centering mother tongue Haitian Creole as the language of instruction, but also equipping the new generation with the tools to be engaged citizens. APA does this by reintegrating civics into the core curriculum.
“[Civics] is not a subject on its own. I mean, you can teach math by integrating civics. You can teach social studies and science by making sure that by the end of the lesson, there’s something about a civic action, a civic responsibility — something that’s embedded. Then before you know it, it’s not about civics being its own subject, but rather it becomes the holding space of everything that you’re teaching in a school,” Nedgine explains.
Each year a recruitment-and-selection cycle occurs consisting of all-Haitian teachers and new graduates who already work or placed in an existing primary school in Haiti — primarily underserved and rural schools. APA focuses on recruiting fellowship participants with lived experience of education inequity, referred to as “proximate leadership.” These recruits are regarded as the solution bearers, who lead the charge to transform the education system as civic leaders – both in and out of the classroom. Over the two years of the fellowship, these teacher-leaders receive ongoing pedagogical training, leadership development courses, and individual coaching. APA facilitates continued professional development for their network of alumni ambassadors as well, particularly prioritizing sustainable, community-based solutions.
APA has five rural partner communities where they focus more broadly on the community: engaging not only teachers and students but also fellowship programming for parents, school directors, and other civic leaders to be a part of this movement. The local response is encouraging, reflected in the exponential cumulative growth in fellowship applicants — almost 1,000 qualified candidates applied for the 50 slots available in 2018. By 2025, Anseye Pou Ayiti seeks to equip 50,000 civic leaders.
“When you invest in people, in their capacity, and in their skills development, it’s maybe not quick, but it’s the investment that pays off,” Nedgine concluded.
Credit: https://www.emersoncollective.com/articles/2017/08/teach-for-haiti
Credit: https://anseyepouayiti.org/en
