Schools reopen in Haiti

The Haitian Government announced an official reopening of schools scheduled for 1 April. It is expected that the SOS School in Santo will not be opened before mid-April. The identification and clearance of sites in time for the reopening of schools in the affected areas by the beginning of April remains a challenge.

With over 80 percent of schools destroyed or damaged in quake-affected regions - adding up to some 5,000 schools - nearly 3 million children do not have a school to attend, according to government estimates. 87 per cent of schools in Port-au-Prince were damaged or destroyed; 96 percent of schools in Leogane were damaged or destroyed; and 88 percent of schools in Jacmel were damaged or destroyed.

The Ministry of Education is working on the reopening of schools across the country through the establishment of temporary structures while school reconstruction continues. Priorities for intervention identified by children, communities and education personnel were the establishment of temporary learning spaces; replacement of educational materials; and provision of psychosocial support.

A UN rapid joint needs assessment indicates that parents want to send children to school and children would like to be back to school, but lack confidence in the structural integrity of pre-existing school buildings. The opening of schools also involves distribution of tents, teaching and learning materials, identification of additional teaching personnel, accelerated teacher training and psychosocial support.