"All people, wherever you are,
                            know the joy that School will come to you!"
                              Madame Marie-Marthe Balin Franck Paul
                                  in her introduction and invitation
                                         for 'School Everywhere!',
                           read in English by Maryse Philippe Déjean.
                                   HEAR the reading on Bandcamp.

 
                                                GREETINGS!
                        SCHOOL EVERYWHERE! (LEKOL TOUPATOU)
                    FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS, PEOPLE OF HAITI!


 
 
 


              


 

 
 
 
 
“Greetings! My name is Marie-Marthe Balin Franck Paul, though, over more than 50 years as an educator, I’ve come to be known among the public as Madame Franck Paul. I began at age 17 to teach School in Haiti. I have been Secretary of State in my country and Mayor of Port-au-Prince. Since 1974 I've been Principal of College Canapé-Vert, which has gradated more than 20,000 upper-class students since 1974. I'm also Director of the publishing house Editiones Pour la Vie.

I’ve fought for decades to bring changes to Education in Haiti. Before the 2010 earthquake colleagues and I instituted Distance-Learning programs in Port-au-Prince and in many Provinces of Haiti. Many people worked very hard, but we were unable to change Haiti’s educational system. Education in Haiti has now deteriorated to the point of degradation. We have not enough Schools. Many Schools that we do have are so under-funded that the education that they provide is below our former standards. And parents are often unable to pay the increased costs for private and even public Schools.

Thousands and millions are denied literacy in Haiti.

So I speak to all who face these problems.
 
Greetings, all you elders. Greetings, all young people who wish for education that can give you powers for success. Greetings, parents who are unable to send your children to School. Greetings to all children who have never attended School and who may never attend School.

I feel I should ask your forgiveness. Forgiveness for our present lack of
capacities for public education in Haiti and forgiveness for our capacities’ degradation. I wish that I'd been able to do more and do better.

But I bring good news! Good news? What is the good news here?
The good news is that now School can come to you!

In any Department, or Section, or Commune of Haiti—in Jacmel,
in Jeremie, in Heche, in Cap Haitien—you can receive the education that will give you the powers that come with literacy. You can learn to read and write four languages—our Haitian Kréyol, and French, and
even English and Spanish.

All people, wherever you are, know the joy that School will come to you!

‘School Everywhere’ (Lékol Toupatou in our Haitian Kréyol) can grow and spread and reach throughout our country.

‘School Everywhere!’ is a tree that can be planted anywhere. It brings first-year students every Course that the Ministry of Education delivers across Haiti through the textbook Mon Livre Unique. It teaches you four languages from which you yourself and your communities can grow. 'Lékol Toupatou' will make you strong! You can nourish this tree with your interest and engagement.

How will ‘School Everywhere!’—‘Lékol Toupatou!’—find you?
No problem!

It will reach you through your mobile phone, or your tablet, or your computer. It’s a teacher present wherever you are! Through the Lessons recorded in 'Lékol Toupatou!', School is in your hand or hands!

You, however, will need the will to learn. You must want to make yourself strong and skilled. You must work to achieve results. You will need to organize your learning with daily discipline.
 
Choose a specific time of each day for your learning with ‘School Everywhere!’ Choose a place. Each day, hold to your time and place. Your place of learning can be your porch, or your living-room. or even under a mango tree.

Choose the place and space for your learning, prepare with notebooks handy, and progress with your work. Follow the Lessons, the 25 Modules and Lessons, that your mobile teacher, ‘School Everywhere!’, ‘Lékol Toupatou’, brings you. Do the Lessons faithfully and patiently and persevere to the completion of each Lesson. Be sure you know
each Module and Lesson well before you proceed. Listen—practice with speaking and writing—and ‘School Everywhere!’, ‘Lékol Toupatou’, will be your companion in moving forward.

Your work and your diligence with your mobile teacher will move us all forward. We'll move forward together.