Haiti’s attempt to reopen schools in September 2020 after months of COVID-related closure faced extraordinary challenges, as the education system tried to function in an environment of pandemic uncertainty, economic hardship, ongoing insecurity, and the residual effects of the learning losses from 2019. The return to school was partial, uneven, and shadowed by the awareness that conditions could force another closure at any time.
School operators faced the practical challenge of implementing COVID precautions — maintaining distance between students, ensuring hand-washing facilities, providing masks — in buildings that had not been designed with these requirements in mind and serving student populations whose families could not always afford the masks and hygiene supplies that schools were asking them to provide.
Enrollment figures showed significant drops from pre-crisis levels in many schools. Families that had lost income during the pandemic and the preceding political crisis could not afford school fees. Security concerns in some neighborhoods continued to make the journey to school feel dangerous for children and their parents. The combined effect was a reduction in school attendance that threatened to become entrenched.
Teachers returned to classrooms knowing they faced an almost impossible pedagogical challenge: covering material that had been missed over months of closure while also managing the social and emotional needs of children who had experienced significant trauma and stress. The professional resources and training to support teachers in meeting this challenge were largely absent.