Our thoughts are with Haiti: Storms impact education

by Gabrielle Apollon, Staff Writer

In the last month, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike have barreled through Haiti, devastating a country that has already weathered political storms caused by the food crisis and rising oil prices. Hurricane Ike has increased the estimated death toll to over 500 people. More than 150,000 people are left homeless and 800,000 people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, half of whom are children, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). As President René Préval told the Miami Herald, "This is Katrina in the entire country but without the means that Louisiana had."

Haiti Hurricane afternmath . photo: Radio Nederland Wereldomroep

In a country where children already face substantial barriers to education, the hurricanes that have hit Haiti in the past few weeks have created even greater obstacles for schooling. The pre-existing food crisis has worsened as most of Haiti's roads and crops remain underwater; eight of Haiti's ten geographical departments have been flooded. These rising food prices make it even more difficult for parents to cover the cost of sending their children to school and increase the need for larger school feeding programs.

Private schools had already started their school year at the beginning of September as usual, but closed when the Haitian government delayed the opening of schools until October 6th in response to the damage created by the hurricanes. Many children are likely to return much later or not attend school at all this year. With the basic needs of food and shelter more difficult to attain, school fees are an even greater burden to families. Some will have to stay home to help their parents rebuild their homes or businesses while others will work to help restore their family's financial livelihood. This does not bode well for the school attendance rate of Haitian children, which was already dismal compared to the rest of the Latin America and Caribbean region. Last year, only 51 percent of girls and 48 percent of boys attended primary school.

Download Post Hurricane Update fact sheet (pdf) » 

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