In a formal ceremony held earlier this week, Haiti’s Minister of National Education Vijonet Déméro formally delivered 308 internship placement letters to the leadership board of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS), marking a key step in strengthening the country’s public secondary education workforce. The internship placements are reserved for ENS graduating students who are preparing to complete their final requirements for official teacher certification.
Addressing attendees at the event, Minister Déméro opened by praising the participating students for their long-standing dedication to Haiti’s education sector and their willingness to pass on their expertise, technical skills, and professional standards to the next generation of learners. He emphasized the critical role the new interns will play in supporting secondary education across the country, urging them to approach their assignments with rigor and serve as thoughtful, effective mentors for high school and secondary students.
The minister also outlined the clear framework governing the three-month posting, including defining the legal rights and core responsibilities of the interns, as well as the specific oversight roles of three key participating bodies: ENS’s board of directors, local school administrations, and Haiti’s 10 regional Departmental Directorates of Education (DDE). At the conclusion of the 12-week placement, each intern is required to submit a comprehensive final report, which will serve as a mandatory component of their evaluation for earning a fully accredited teacher training diploma.
Beyond the internship initiative, Déméro used the ceremony as a platform to announce progress on a broader push to formalize Haiti’s public education workforce. To date, he confirmed, he has signed more than 600 official appointment letters for newly hired teachers and school principals across all 10 DDE regions, filling long-vacant roles at national primary and secondary schools. Moving forward, the ministry plans to regularize the employment status of an additional 1,200 under-contract teachers in the coming months, with the pace of the process tied to available government funding for education.
Dieuseul Prédélus, rector of the State University of Haiti (UEH), which oversees the École Normale Supérieure, praised the Ministry of National Education’s sustained commitment to integrating more qualified, formally certified personnel into Haiti’s public education system, noting that the move will help address long-standing staffing gaps and improve learning outcomes for students across the country.