The Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) has expressed their deep concern about the thousands of Haitian children who are being denied their fundamental human right to a “good quality public education”.
Delegates participating in the Regional Conference of Education International, North American and Caribbean Region in Jamaica last January unanimously agreed that every child in this region and indeed, the world, deserves the life opportunities that education offers. The CUT has since written to the Chairman of CARICOM (the Caribbean Community: http://www.caricom.org), to highlight its concern. In Haiti 80% of schools are private. The CUT called upon all the other members of CARICOM to put pressure on the government of Haiti to provide quality, public education for the children of the country. In doing so, the CUT also expects that all governments of CARICOM will give priority to public education through the provision of adequate funding for the sector. This is perceived as the only way that CARICOM countries will achieve the UN Millennium Development Goal of quality Education for All by 2015. The teachers of the region are committed to doing their part in ensuring that the goals are achieved, but they must be provided with the resources to do so. To this end, the CUT is imploring the chair to keep the provision of quality public education at the top of the agenda of CARICOM.