Jean Joseph Maurice Dartigue

Jean Joseph Maurice Dartigue (1903–1983) was a Haitian public official and educational reformer. He believed the cause of problems in Haiti stemmed from the nation's poor educational system. He continued his work with UNESCO in Africa until the end of his career.

Early life Maurice Dartigue was born in Les Cayes, Haiti in 1903. His father was Jean Baptiste Dartigue, a lawyer, député, and Governor of the South. Maurice had two sisters and a brother.

Dartigue attended the Petit Séminaire Collège Saint-Martial. In 1924, he attended Haiti's Faculty of Law.

As a minister, Dartigue was partially successful in implementing reforms for primary and vocational schools, but failed to restructure secondary schools before the Haitian Revolution of 1946.

Dartigue sought asylum in the United States after Élie Lescot was overthrown. He moved to New York to work with the United Nations as a specialist in education. In 1956, he moved to Paris for a position with UNESCO. Here, he supervised the Major Latin American Project (LAMP). He joined the UNESCO mission to the Congo from 1960 to 1961. In 1962, he was appointed by UNESCO to be Chief of the African Division. He was heavily involved in overseeing educational reform in Africa until his retirement in 1971.

Legacy The Jean Joseph Maurice Dartigue Papers, consisting of records pertaining to the Société haitiano-américaine de développement agricole, are indexed by the Library of Congress.

His son, John Dartigue, was an executive and vice president of publicity at Warner Brothers. He died in 2022.