Challenges Facing Education in Haiti
Though accurate and updated statistics are unavailable, Haiti has, by far, the lowest enrollment, completion, and literacy rates of any country in the Western Hemisphere. More than ample anecdotal evidence suggests a lack of learning and achievement across the country’s school system.
The Haitian education system faces three main issues. Firstly, in terms of governance the Ministry faces both financial and technical challenges. The private sector agencies are currently supporting 80% of educational provision in Haiti, but there is limited dialogue between the private and public providers – resulting in a lack of knowledge, analysis, coordination, standardisation and support across educational institutions. Secondly the lack of access persists, particularly in poor and rural regions, and the system still generates too much exclusion (vulnerable groups, school dropouts, and overage students). Approximately 500,000 children still do not have access to basic education. Finally, the quality and effectiveness of the offered education is very weak, with only 35 percent of children who gain access to education completing the 6 years of primary school.
The quality of education provided by most public and non-public schools is low, as evidenced by the number of unqualified teachers, inadequate availability of textbooks, high repetition and dropout rates, high number of overage students, and low scores on primary education completion exams. Public schools are often in very poor condition, with crowded classrooms, latrines in disrepair, and few (if any) teaching and learning materials. The few available textbooks are typically in French, although Creole is the primary language of instruction in the early grades and in the primary cycle. Teaching practices are almost exclusively “chalk and talk”, requiring students to recite words and phrases they frequently cannot understand.
Many argue that the lack of well-prepared teachers is the main cause of the low quality of education in Haiti. Nationally, about 400 new teachers are certified each year, versus an estimated need of over 2000 teachers annually to achieve education for all (EFA) by 2015. Pre-service teacher education (provided by both public and non-public providers) has not benefited from any capital investments in more than ten years. Facilities are in poor condition, curricula are inappropriate, teacher trainers transmit outdated teaching methods and trainees lack the materials they need to develop content knowledge, theoretical understandings and pedagogical strategies. Nearly 25 percent of primary school teachers have never attended secondary school, and only 15 percent are considered qualified.
