Haiti - Teaching Profession

Teachers are trained mainly at the école normale supérieure of the State University of Haiti where they enroll in a three-year program that includes a concentration on the subject or subjects of their choice and training in teaching strategies. There are at least six teachers colleges around the country. A large number of teachers in the Haitian school system make less than 500 gourdes a month. (The exchange rate is approximately 20 gourdes per US$1.) Another unfortunate fact is that 90 percent of them are not prepared for their task. Teaching is not a very attractive profession in Haiti because it is by all accounts the least appreciated of occupations; those who choose it anyway do so very often because of necessity. Attrition among teachers is extremely high. Yet, teacher colleges are still too few, and their instruction is not uniform. There are no research centers. Testing and assessment instruments are not designed to be of any real help to the system.