16410: Raber: Free Schooling Re: 16402: Nicole: R Wilson's letter (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: P&M Raber <raber@valkyrie.net>

Just a word about completely free schooling.  Even if you have good
intentions by providing free schooling, the children sometimes end up paying
much more than you would have charged.  I have seen it happen at a couple of
mission schools.  Here is how it works:

The school is completely free and even sometimes comes with school books and
uniform which is a great value.  There is also usually some sort of lunch
program as well.  Haitian parents with little education usually choose a
school on its value, not quality.  A free school is a dream come true.  No
worries about how to pay for school for the next 6 or seven years.  The
school becomes the most sought after of the area and parents flood to the
school to register their children.  There are many more prospective students
than spots.  Every parent starts contacting anybody that works there to see
how to get their child in.  Within days an elaborate corruption system is
set up with high pay off  to someone who is on the inside and who gives kick
backs to someone who decides who gets in or not.  Ususpecting sponsor money
source thinks that everything is fine.  Parents take a "ponya" or high
interest loan to pay off someone to get their kid in.

Whenever something is for free in Haiti, some smart aleck always thinks that
it should  be easier for him to make a little money off of it.  I have even
seen Haitian government jobs set up in such a way.  In 1995 or 1996,
president Aristide decided to create some jobs.  The big one in my area was
to clean out ditches.  anybody who could walk was eligible for the daily
salary digging job. However the most sought after position was the one of
the person who got to choose who could work.  Wonders of wonders, this was
an unpaid position!  Talk about kick backs all the way up the pyramid!

I have read in the Florida news that some agency supposed to offer free
services to Haitians is being accused of getting paid.  Most likely the
agency as a whole is not responsible for the alleged corruption.  However, I
would not be surprised if  some "smart" person inside the place, knowing
that most Haitians recently arrived from Haiti would be used to operate the
Haitian way, decided to earn a little extra tax-free cash.

If your school is completely free, you better have a very regulated way to
select the incoming class (parent council and such).