Haiti: School on the Brink, Minister Promises Profound Recovery

While official exams continue in a tense but generally calm atmosphere, the Minister of National Education, Antoine Augustin, sounds the alarm. During the 17th edition of Mardis de la Nation, this Tuesday, July 15, 2025, he clearly articulated a crisis silently undermining Haitian education, and announced a series of reforms to try and reverse the trend. In a country shaken by insecurity, poverty, and political instability, the Haitian school system barely holds up. Yet, every day, thousands of children drop out silently. And the Minister of National Education, Antoine Augustin, no longer wants to ignore this. Before the cameras, during the 17th edition of Mardis de la Nation, the minister delivered a straightforward speech. He first presented the results of the official exams: for the 2024-2025 academic year, 303,000 candidates are registered, including nearly 188,000 in the 9th fundamental year. The 9th-year exams proceeded smoothly, with a success rate of 96.5%. However, a few cases of fraud in certain regions led to judicial sanctions. Since July 14, the baccalaureate exams have been taking place in a “serene” atmosphere, he indicated, thanks to the collaboration between educational authorities, parents, and security forces. But behind this apparent stability, the minister unveiled a much more serious reality. A Deep-Seated Ill Plagues the Haitian Education System “Out of more than a million children who enter school each year, barely 188,000 reach the 9th year. We cannot continue like this,” he declared gravely. This figure alone illustrates the deep-seated ill plaguing the Haitian education system: prolonged strikes, poverty, family instability, children displaced by violence… The minister speaks of a “silent crisis,” one that pushes thousands of children to abandon their future. Faced with this hemorrhage, he promises a profound reform. Among the announced measures: strengthening school canteens to keep children in school, establishing automatic but supervised progression, reviewing preschool education, better training teachers, and above all, taking back control of the financial management of public high schools, thanks to delegated accountants attached to the ministry. For a Different School But beyond the figures and technical reforms, the minister calls for a different kind of school: a school that provides meaning, transmits civic values, and educates citizens. He believes it is time for school to become a place where the Nation of tomorrow is prepared. In a country where the future seems increasingly uncertain for millions of young people, Minister Antoine Augustin’s speech sounds like a call to responsibility. Through this, it is no longer about managing a system, but about saving it. Wideberlin Senexant