VOA教育报道2024--UN: Violence Is Harming Haiti's Schools

Schools in Haiti are operating without enough chairs, blackboards, and even bathrooms.

Violent criminal groups limit basic government services and deepen¹ poverty while the state education system faces a $23 million deficit².

Yasmine Sherif is the executive³ director of the U.N. organization Education Cannot Wait. "The country needs help," Sherif said during her three-day visit to the Caribbean country in July.

Sherif said the organization provided $2.5 million to help nearly 75,000 children in Haiti with money, food and other programs. And she asked the European Union and other countries, including France and the U.S., to help close the educational deficit.

"My main concern is security," she said, noting the effect that violence has had on education.

Criminal groups, called gangs, killed or injured more than 2,500 people in the first three months of the year. Violence has seriously affected⁴ life in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and elsewhere.

At least 919 schools remain closed in Port-au-Prince and in the central area of Artibonite because of gang violence. The U.N. says that school closures have affected more than 150,000 students.

"Education is part of the solution," Sherif said. "That would end extreme poverty, extreme violence and create political stability⁵ and create a reliable workforce⁶."

Gang violence impacts

Gang violence also has left some 580,000 people homeless across Haiti, with many crowding into temporary shelters or taking over schools, causing them to close. Schools that remain open are increasingly forced to take students from others that have closed.

The Jean Marie Vincent School in central Port-au-Prince, for example, has accepted students from 12 other schools.

Charles Luckerno is the head of the Vincent School. He said, "We're not the only ones" facing such serious problems. Luckerno said that when classes end for the day, people left homeless by gang violence enter the school and sleep on its ground.

Although that creates health problems, Luckerno still lets them stay. He said, "We are human. We cannot throw them out."

Not enough chairs

Williamson Bissainthe is a 22-year-old high school student who is preparing to take his final exam to graduate. He described the sad state of some schools.

"A lot of schools are missing benches or chairs. Teachers do not show up on time. The hardest part of this is that there are no bathrooms," he said.

Bissainthe added, "I hope that the generation that comes after me doesn't have to go through the same suffering."

Private schools are out of reach for many in Haiti, a country of more than 11 million people. More than 60 percent of the population earns less than $2 a day.

Homeless students

Among those who have been forced to flee their homes is 20-year-old Megane Dumorcy. She would like to study agriculture, but completing her education has been difficult.

"The insecurity has had a huge impact on my life," she said, noting that some students have been forced to leave their backpacks behind as they flee gangs. "The state should find a solution for that. We shouldn't be living in a country where our movement is limited."

She said her school is only half-built and lacks a library, a computer room, a blackboard and chairs. She does research on her phone when needed.

Another blow to Haitian schools came in late 2022. That was the time the U.S. started a program permitting Haitians and people from other countries to enter the country on humanitarian⁷ grounds.

"A lot of teachers left," said Frantz Erine, an official at the Jean Marie Vincent School.

Words in This Story

bathroom - n. a room with a sink and toilet and sometimes a bathtub or shower

gang - n. a group of criminals

graduate - v. to earn a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university

impact - n. a powerful or major influence or effect

1 deepen   

vt./vi.加深，(使)变深，加重，加浓

参考例句：

• We'll have to deepen the well if we want more water.如果我们想要更多的水，就得把井加深。
• Her wrinkles deepen with age.她的皱纹随年龄增长而变深。

2 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

3 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 stability   

n.稳定，稳固

参考例句：

• The situation is tending towards stability.局势趋于稳定。
• She lacks emotional stability.她的情绪不稳定。

6 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。