Port-au-Prince, September 10, 2024 --- The Minister of National Education and Vocational Training opened on September 10, with the support of UNESCO and UNFPA, a 4-day consultation workshop for the development of a guidance document on the technological stream of the new Haitian secondary school.

According to Augustin Antoine, it is a question of bringing together the different components of the educational community to inventory the concrete measures likely to allow the Haitian State to lay the necessary foundations for the implementation of the new technological secondary education sector, considering the socio-economic and natural environment of the country.

The minister hopes that the document that will come out of these meetings will serve as a guide for the implementation of the sector. He hopes to have the necessary funding for this. He indicated that another orientation of the school is necessary according to the needs of tomorrow.

For a better implementation of the technological education sector, the ministry would take measures that would be oriented towards the following results, underlines the director of secondary education, Miguel Fleurijean:

• Offer young people an opportunity for retraining and technical professional integration

• Support for the implementation of the various sectors of the technological education sector in terms of resources and teaching-learning conditions in educational establishments.

The Deputy Representatives of UNFPA, Jean Pierre Makelele, and UNESCO, Khadim Sylla, in Haiti, welcomed the strong involvement of the government in the organization of this workshop and wished it every success.

Sylla is convinced of the driving role that technical training can play in economic transformation, the development of technological innovation and creativity, the professional integration of young people and social inclusion,

UNFPA's 2023-2027 country programme in Haiti is structured around four outputs, Makelele said:

• Social protection, including essential reproductive health services, family planning and gender-based violence

• Adolescents and youth, bodily autonomy

• Emergency preparedness and humanitarian response

• Data and population

The technological education sector has a dual purpose, according to the ministry: to enable graduates of technological education to directly access jobs as technicians or to pursue higher education in establishments where their specialties are taught..

There are six series of technological education that lead young people to the baccalaureate: the Industrial Sciences and Technologies series, the Tertiary Sciences and Technologies series, the Rural Development Sciences and Technologies series and the Medical-Social Sciences and Technologies series.

The establishment of the new technological secondary education sector is becoming imperative to guide young people as a priority towards the job market and the creation of wealth.

Text: Vario Sérant, UNFPA

Photos: Raphel Bélizaire et Clery Tokenskov Etienne, UNESCO