UN Fund warns of $23 million deficit in Haiti’s education system as it announces grant

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —

No chairs. No blackboards. No toilets.

Schools in the Haitian capital and beyond are crumbling as gang violence deepens poverty and disrupts basic government services, while the public education system faces a $23 million deficit.

“The country needs help,” said Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the UN global fund Education Cannot Wait, for education in emergencies and crises.

On Friday, she announced a $2.5 million grant that is expected to help nearly 75,000 children through cash transfers, school feeding programs and other initiatives.

Sherif was in Haiti as part of a three-day trip during which she visited schools and met with teachers, school principals, government officials and members of civil society. She pleaded with the European Union and countries like France and the United States to help close the education gap, as she highlighted the impact of violence on education.

“My main concern is safety,” she said.

Gangs killed or injured more than 2,500 people in the first three months of the year, with violence disrupting life in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and elsewhere.

At least 919 schools remain closed in Port-au-Prince and the central Artibonite region due to gang violence. The closures have affected more than 150,000 students, according to the UN.

“Education is part of the solution,” Sherif said. “It would end extreme poverty and extreme violence, and create political stability and a reliable workforce.”

Gang violence has also left 580,000 people homeless across Haiti, many of them crowding into makeshift shelters or taking over schools, forcing them to close.

Schools that remain operational are increasingly being forced to accommodate students from other establishments that have closed.

The Jean Marie Vincent school in central Port-au-Prince, for example, welcomed students from a dozen other schools.

“We’re facing huge problems,” said its director, Charles Luckerno. “We’re not alone.”

He said that when classes end, people left homeless by gang violence flock to the school and sleep in the courtyard.

“It also creates serious hygiene problems,” said Luckerno, who nevertheless allows them to stay. “We are human beings. We can’t throw them out.”

Williamson Bissainthe, a 22-year-old high school student who is about to take his final exam to graduate, lamented the state of some schools.

“In many schools there are no benches or chairs. Teachers do not arrive on time. The worst thing is that there are no toilets,” he said.

“I hope that the generation that comes after me will not have to go through the same suffering,” he said.

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

Among those forced to flee their homes is Mégane Dumorcy, 20, who is also about to graduate.

She would like to become an agronomist, but her studies have been a challenge.

“Insecurity has had a huge impact on my life,” she said, noting that some students have been forced to abandon their backpacks to flee gangs. “The state should find a solution to this problem. We should not live in a country where our movements are restricted.”

She explained that her school was only half built and lacked a library, a computer room, a blackboard and chairs. She does her research on her phone when she needs to.

Another blow to Haitian schools has been the program launched by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration in late 2022 that allows Haitians and nationals of a handful of other countries to enter the United States for humanitarian reasons.

“A lot of teachers have left,” said Frantz Erine, deputy principal of Jean Marie Vincent School.