Beginning in January, people around the world began donating money to Haiti relief efforts following a devastating earthquake. However, Sharon Ravitch believes the task of revitalizing the country and preparing it for future success will require more than monetary measures.
Ravitch, a Penn Graduate School of Education lecturer, has been named senior adviser to the Haitian Ministry of Education.
According to Ravitch, Creutzer Mathurin, a senior adviser in the ministry, came to Penn Monday to meet with her and others to finalize the appointment.
Ravitch believes she and her team were selected as advisers because their skill sets match the specific educational needs Haiti currently has.
“The greatest hope for Haiti … is a reconstructed educational system,” she said.
Part of her role will be to assist in developing a “pipeline of expertise” in the country for the purpose of “capacity building.”
Her vision for the future of Haitian education includes changes on multiple levels. There will be a new institute aimed at developing research and training teachers in addition to reevaluating both K-12 and university education. This “model of synergy,” as Ravitch describes it, will be the “engine that drives change” in Haiti’s educational system.
Ravitch explained that the Ministry of Education was already in the process of developing a reconstruction plan before the earthquake hit. The fact that Haiti has been on the minds of a greater number of people has been “a lightning rod for garnering international support.”
Since the earthquake, Wharton students have been involved with the recovery process. In April, a group of masters of business administration students traveled to the country to assist relief efforts.
Fritz Charles, a Wharton graduate student and first generation Haitian American, was part of the group that traveled down last spring. While touring the devastation, the group happened to stop at an elementary school. After the disaster, classes at the school were conducted in a tent, Charles said.
However, he added that the type of commitment displayed by the young teacher in the tent is what Haiti needs.
“Sure, you can definitely build new buildings,” he said. “But the country that has a huge underbelly of uneducated folks” will encounter problems, he added.
Ravitch reiterated these sentiments when she addressed the fact that while there are substantial funds coming in for relief, not very much goes to education. “One of my primary roles is going to be helping them think about resource reallocation,” she explained.
By exploring the challenges Haiti faces but also the “great varieties and kinds of expertise and human capital that are walking around,” Ravitch hopes to encourage a new type of education in Haiti that is “contextually relevant.”
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