VOICES FROM HAITI: 7th/8th grade teacher, Elinedia, replies to the question: “What makes The Children’s Academy different from other schools in Haiti?”
What makes The Children’s Academy different from other schools in Haiti?
Many experiences marked my life, many also changed some things within me to a level I never expected. Those experiences built in me a reality that others will never live in the way their forces combine to make me who I am today. In July 2022, I found the possibility of integrating into one of the institutions that work in education, which is The Children’s Academy. And with reference to other observations I made in other schools, I want to tell you what makes this school different from all the others I know. Let’s follow along.
One of the biggest things I heard while integrating into The Children’s Academy teaching staff was: We are forming agents of change. This sentence for me was very simple until I came to understand what the change it referred to meant. I came to understand that The Children’s Academy does not only have a mission to teach children to read and write, but to give them the tools to help them make their way in life. This is one of the first things that makes The Children’s Academy different from all the other schools I know in Haiti.
In addition to this, The Children’s Academy’s is based on a wide range of values that are indispensable for a person to become a productive and honest citizen in their community, country and anywhere else s/he might live. Among these values are: wisdom, love, integrity, respect, love, morality, sharing, and gratitude, just to name a few. I came to realize that The Children’s Academy really educates people for life.
Over time I observed how everyone is considered important and is invited to be involved in the decisions that are being made. Whether children or adults, employees or students, everyone has the opportunity to speak and say that they think. This allows everyone to be independent and to work autonomously so that they can develop their abilities more and more each day.
A child who graduates from The Children’s Academy has the possibility of emerging with a skill or expertise that will be useful for their life… This shows how the school leadership makes efforts to orient the children for a better tomorrow.
To conclude, my experience at The Children’s Academy has made me see things differently, through the way it functions each day. For me The Children’s Academy is becoming a better school every day.
