Back to school in Haiti: four months off has worsened inequalities of opportunity

The director of the Catts Pressoir college, Guy Etienne, in Port-au-Prince on August 7, 2020. Pierre Michel Jean / AFP

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Monday, August 10, in Haiti, the final and last year of primary school students return to their classrooms. This exceptional re-entry is organized so that they can have a minimum of lessons before the state exams, rescheduled for the month of October. The other levels will resume lessons from August 17 to complete the 2019-2020 school year, disrupted by the coronavirus.

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With our correspondent in Port-au-Prince,  Amélie Baron

Faced with the Covid-19 epidemic , Haitian schools closed on March 19. These four months away from classrooms have further worsened the inequalities of opportunity between children, depending on whether they are educated in the public or private system. At the Tabarre public school, it's time for the pre-school cleaning. The director, Lucien Jean-François, regrets that his students have not had a single lesson for four months:

"  At school, we don't have electricity, so check out the students' houses ... Online work stories are for parents who can afford to provide their children with materials. computer science. But we are not capable of it.  "

The digital divide is still a problem

The Catts Pressoir college, in Port-au-Prince, is at the cutting edge of technology with filmed lessons available on a digital platform. Director Guy Etienne nevertheless testifies to the difficulties inherent in the country:

“  We made the choice to have pre-recorded lessons, because there are so many difficulties with the internet and electricity that we could not give special appointments to the children. Because if there is no electricity or internet, they miss the lesson. Often times, we would see children at 1 or 2 in the morning taking lessons.  "

Because he dreams of offering this education online to all the children of Haiti, Guy Etienne negotiates prices with internet service providers and raises funds to install solar panels in schools in remote areas. The leitmotif of this dynamic director: we must not wait for the State, the development of the country depends on each citizen.

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