Effects of Politic in Haiti on the Education System

(Safety needed) Ref.December 2, 2019 (School reopen in Haiti)

Haiti has been recognized as the first Black Republic independent. Since its independence from 1804 to 2019 for over 215 years, this country has been always unstable for most of the time. The Government of Haiti, according to the Haitian Constitution of 1987 is a semi-presidential republic; the president is the head of the State elected directly by popular election. The president exercises the executive power, and the prime minister acts a head of government, which appointed by the president, chosen from the majority party in the national assembly. There is always a battle between the president and the parliament around the choice of the prime minister and a lot of conflicts started from this matter. The main victim from the unrest are always the poor families who have relied on small businesses to pay school for their children. From the last unrest, September 2019 to December 2019 called “Country lock” everything has been paralyzed from public transportation to all other activities including the school. The main slogan” No school until the president leaves”. If we look for development, we should promote the education. I see that we have done the opposite.

Why kids continue to be the victim?

As we know that education is a the key to success and that has supported by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Education is a fundamental human right for everyone. The constitution of 1987(Art. 32) has supported this human right, “The State guarantees the right to education. Instruction is free to all the degrees. This freedom is exercised under the control of the State”. This is the constitution and look at the reality. As a contradictory 80% of primary schools are private .In the last Haiti unrest, some politicians used schools as a tool to force the president to leave the power. This crisis last for about 3 months and the Country lock has been there for more than a year. As an educator and lawyer who has advocated for Education, I have observed a violation to the right of education.

Which international organization is accountable to the education in different States? The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization( UNESCO )is one the main actors which works to develop, monitor and promote education norms and standards to guarantee the right to Education at country level and advanced the aims of the Education 2030 agenda.

Finally, on December 2, 2019 the ministry of Education and the law enforcement agency in Haiti have decided to create a safe environment for kids to return to school. How those missing days may affect the students’ performance. The school year in Haiti is divided into 3 trimesters and the unrest of the 3 months represented 1/3 of the year. It would be really challenging for the teachers to fill this large gap. Therefore, schools would hold classes on Saturdays a couple days of vacation in order to help students to catch up on their studies.

Recommendations To prevent those issues in the future there should be a plan where a security team will be trained as a special force to guarantee the security of the schools during critical situations. The main aim of this team is to create a safe environment for the kids to go to school safely. That should be a part of the international organization in charge to enhance children’ rights in coordination with the member states. You can see in the picture above how a Haitian police helped a kid to cross the street to go to school. That may consider as an example for the creation of the security team to guarantee the security of the students, as we know that they will keep closing schools for the sake of their own interest. In order to support a program like this we need parents’ involvement. The contribution of the parents in this program can consider as an essential asset for its success. It is unbelievable while other countries put more emphasis on education for the development, will education be a priority in Haiti?

Jean