ARTICLE - IDB - CONST/REHAB OF SCHOOLS

CONSTRUCTION OR REHABILITATION OF MORE THAN 80 SCHOOLS
(Haiti Libre) -

A program to restructure schools in Haiti was launched yesterday by the Economic and Social Assistance Fund with the financial support of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB).

Harry Adam, Director General for the Fund of Economic and Social Assistance (FAES), indicated that this program, which lasts 2 years, concerns the construction or the rehabilitation of more than 80 schools, of which nearly 25% are located in the departments most affected by the earthquake of 2010. The Director of FAES has indicated that the program of Support to the Restructuring of Education in Haiti, has 4 components :

- the reconstruction of school buildings destroyed,

- the distribution of school kits,

- the training of qualified human resources and

- the strengthening of the Haitian education system over the next 5 years.

Approximately 200 million gourds (40 Gdes = ± 1 U.S. dollars) has been disbursed by the Government of Haiti to rebuild some damaged schools. He specified that these schools will be built respecting the anti-seismic standards, and will be fully equipped, including: libraries, computer rooms and a sports field.

For her part, Sophie McOnel, Representative of the IDB indicated that her organization had already paid USD$50 million as part of the commitment to the program of "Support to the Reconstruction of the Education Sector in Haiti", which provides an assistance of 50 million U.S. dollars annually over 10 years.