"In Haiti, 2 in 10 children aged 6 to 10 do not attend primary school. [...]" says the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on its Twitter account

In addition, experts expect these figures to increase after the August 2021 earthquake and the violence that shakes Haiti. A UNICEF report released in late August indicated that 70% of schools in the south had been destroyed or damaged in the 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

As of December 2021, it was estimated that nearly 400,000 students had still not been able to return to class, with reconstruction and rehabilitation work progressing very slowly https://www.haitilibre.com/article-35472-haiti-actualite-zapping .html

Unicef ​​has also warned that one in two children is at risk of dropping out because their age does not correspond to the grade in which they are learning (80% of children who drop out of school are overage). In this sense, the UN agency launched a non-formal and vocational training program, in which 1,541 adolescents aged 15 to 18 participated.

Limited access to education has increased this year, following the earthquake of August 14, 2021, which destroyed hundreds of educational infrastructure in the country's southern peninsula, leaving thousands of children without school.

Moreover, the outlook darkens with the increased control of armed gangs that operate with impunity in Port-au-Prince, forcing schools to pay for safety. "In areas controlled by gangs, principals and teachers are under constant threat and, if they refuse to pay, their schools are attacked," said Jean Gough, Unicef ​​Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Education in Haiti, a few figures :

• Increase in the net enrollment rate from 75.8% to 88% between 2002 and 2016 (Source: Ministry of National Education)

• Almost 6 out of 10 children in the second year of fundamental cannot read according to international standards (Source: Early Grade Reading Assessment)

• The attendance rate for 6-11 year olds increased from 50% to 84% (Source: EMMUS IV and EMMUS VI).

• Almost 250,000 children aged 6 to 11 are out of the school system, down from the 500,000 recorded in 2007 (Source: Study on children out of school)

• The net primary school enrollment rate is lower in rural areas (80%) than in urban areas (91%) and significantly lower in some departments.

• 80% of children who drop out of school are "over-aged."

• Only 68% of children from the poorest households attend primary school against 92% from the richest households and the level of learning remains very low.

• In Haiti, only 63% of children aged 36-59 months attend an early childhood education program.

S/ HaitiLibre