UNICEF tent schools get children back to school in Haiti
Diana Valcárcel, UNICEF
UNICEF correspondent Nina Martinek reports on UNICEF-supported tent schools providing continued access to education for Haiti’s children.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (March 22, 2010) — In and around Haiti's devastated capital city, UNICEF-supported tent schools are opening for children affected by the January 12 earthquake.
One such temporary school is housed in a former sports center—now acting as a displaced persons camp—in the Carrefour district, south-west of Port-au-Prince.
A longstanding problem
UNICEF's experience shows that it is necessary to get children back to school as soon as possible after emergencies to restore a sense of normalcy in their daily lives.
Even before the earthquake struck on January 12, poverty and a lack of infrastructure contributed to a low school-enrolment rate across Haiti. The quake only exacerbated this longstanding problem.
The Ministry of Education estimates that 80 percent of schools west of Port-au-Prince were destroyed or severely damaged in the earthquake, and 35 to 40 percent were destroyed in the south-east. This means that as many as 5,000 schools were destroyed and up to 2.9 million children here are being deprived of the right to education.
In the wake of the earthquake, a logistical Education Cluster of organizations was created—co-led by UNICEF and Save the Children—to support the government in getting children back into schools.
Based on hope
© UNICEF Haiti/Valcárcel/2010
The UNICEF tent school at a settlement for displaced people in the Carrefour district, south-west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, opened in February. UNICEF is working to get children back to school as soon as possible in order to restore a needed sense of normalcy.
The UNICEF tent school in Carrefour opened on February 22. It consists of two large tents—one for children aged 7 to 12, and one for 12 to 17-year-old students.
Along with children and adolescents living in the displaced persons' camp, the new school's doors are also open to children from the surrounding neighborhood—some of whom have not been to school before.
Teachers from the Haitian Red Cross lead the classes. Chantal Duphrézin, one of the teachers leading the younger age group, mentioned that new desks and benches—provided by UNICEF—had just arrived.
"Haiti is going to change for better, we are sure," said Duphrézin. "We have to be based on hope. And the change will take place by our efforts…. There will come a day when there will be no rubble in the street. That's what we want. "
Learning through play
Duphrézin and her team of teachers is developing a combined study plan that mixes fun with traditional educational methods, so that the students will learn while they play. This psycho-social technique helps to ease the transition back to school for children following an emergency.
Groups of students, led by their teachers, sing educational songs—and have fun while learning.
Matsaika, age 12, one of the students lives in the Carrefour settlement for the displaced. "When I grow up I would like to be a nurse to heal others," she said, adding: "I am very happy at this school."
