(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) the Hon Roosevelt Skerrit said CARICOM would have discussions with the University of the West Indies (UWI) with a view to creating special programmes for displaced tertiary students in Haiti.

He was responding to queries at a press conference, in Paramaribo, Suriname, following the inaugural CARICOM Summit on Youth Development, 29-30 January.

Prior to the Summit, Haiti’s CARICOM Youth Ambassador, Leticia Cadet had presented an appeal through a special meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) for CARICOM to assist in the re-building of the tertiary education system in Haiti, whose students had suffered serious dislocation in the wake of the earthquake which struck Port-Au-Prince on January 12.

Ms Cadet made a specific request for CARICOM to provide 20 scholarships over the next five years for students to continue their now disrupted education at the UWI and for the university to be flexible in their admission of Haitian students.

Chairman Skerrit assured members of local and regional media that the Community would respond “in a tangible way” to Haiti’s petition.

Meanwhile, UWI Professor Emeritus and co-Chair of the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development (CCYD) Barry Chevannes added that he was confident that the University, at its highest seat of decision-making would respond positively to the request from Ms Cadet to accommodate Haitian students.

Speaking on behalf of the University, Prof. Chevannes said, the UWI was already in dialogue with Haiti regarding the re-building of its tertiary education system.

On Thursday, Ms Cadet made a strong case to the COHSOD meeting to push through the petition to CARICOM Heads of Government. She said for Haiti to survive as a nation it must build the capacity of its human resources. She viewed tertiary level education as the engine of growth in human capital and asked that the Community place special emphasis on this level of education.

Her request was also well timed since the Report on the situation of Youth in the Caribbean submitted to the Heads on Saturday had singled out Tertiary Education as one area that should be boosted for national and regional development.

Ms Cadet also asked for assistance for Haiti’s young entrepreneurs. Her petition was signed by former CARICOM Youth Ambassadors and other youth leaders from Haiti.

The Bureau of CARICOM Heads of Government had met during the Summit in Suriname and according to Chairman Skerrit, a special unit on Haiti relief was set up with full time staff and CARICOM had already deployed in excess of 400 personnel to assist with the recovery process in Haiti.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org