Throughout 2018, the Peter Hesse Foundation continued its work of training Montessori teachers, providing scholarships to individuals who will work as teachers for at-risk children in poor communities, and assisting qualifying graduates with furniture and didactical materials to open their own schools.
The Foundation provides continuing support to partner schools in the form of technical visits, in-service training, and special seminars for teachers. In July 2018, twenty-eight students passed their exams to become Montessori teachers and almost all of them are now employed as teachers in schools which the Foundation helped to set-up over the years. The Foundation is currently training a new group of 35 student teachers. Their training will be completed in July 2019.
Four of the schools in the area were provided with Montessori materials and furniture by the Foundation. One school also received funding for a school building, as well as furniture and materials. This school had been destroyed by Hurricane Matthew.
In-service training at the Foundation’s training center was provided in Liancourt. Teachers from 17 Montessori schools from across Haiti attended the seminar and shared lively discussions of their own classroom experiences. To mark World Environment Day, the Foundation invited leaders from the community in Liancourt to attend a seminar on the environment.