22 Haiti Education Facts (all about schools in Haiti)
Did you know that most Haiti schools are private? Or that the Haitian education system is entirely in French?
Discover everything through these 22 interesting Haiti education facts! 🇭🇹 🎓
The Best Facts About School in Haiti
Haiti is a French-speaking independent state located in the Caribbeans. Its heritage and history are unique, and its capital city is Port-au-Prince, which has around 1 million inhabitants.
An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its education. In light of that, I have listed my 22 best facts about the Haiti school, and I hope you will love them:
1. Almost every school is privately run in Haiti
You will quickly realize this throughout the list, but education is a huge problem in Haiti.
Around 90 percent of schools are private in the country, and that does not help at all. They are either run by religious organizations, for-profit institutions, or non-governmental institutions.
2. The main issue with private schools is that they ask for tuition fees
The biggest reason why private schools are so detrimental to the country’s education system is that many Haitians cannot afford tuition fees, so the overall enrollment rate is not as good as it should be.
Parents also need to pay for lunch, mandatory uniforms, transport, and books.
3. The World Bank is helping Haiti with financial support
Because of how dire the situation is in Haiti with private schools, organizations like the World Bank have been helping the country throughout the years.
A “tuition waiver program” was launched in 2007, aiming at paying tuition fees for students as well as their school materials.
4. Enrollment rates have risen in the past years thanks to external help
Thanks to financial programs like the one I just told you about, enrollment rates have gone up to 90 percent (from 78 percent) in Haiti.
There is still a lot to do, since school uniforms are not very affordable, but at least there is more teaching staff in the country.
5. Many Haitian children are not in the appropriate grade
Because of how poor some families are in Haiti, they cannot always send their children to school every year. Thus, many of them lost years of schooling and are too old for their grade when they come back.
For example, the average for students in grade six was 16 years old, when it should have been 11 to 12.
6. Haitian teaching methods are quite ineffective
Education in Haiti is of very low quality, because of how ineffective teaching methods are. On top of that, there is a permanent shortage of qualified teachers that are unpaid.
Shockingly, around half of the teachers in public institutions lack basic qualifications!
7. Some teachers in Haiti have never been to secondary school themselves
What is even more shocking than teachers without basic qualifications is… teachers who have never even been to secondary school! That is around a quarter of Haitian teachers.
On top of that, 80 percent of the teaching staff have not received any training whatsoever.
8. The 2010 earthquake destroyed Haiti and its education
The 2010 earthquake wreaked havoc on the country of Haiti. Not only were major buildings completely destroyed, but education suffered a lot because of this. 4,000 schools disappeared.
Students were then sheltered to be able to carry on their education, while children attended school in small churches.
9. There is a special project dedicated to building more primary schools in Haiti
Educate a Child created a project named “Quality Basic Education for Out of School Children”. Its goal is to increase access to education in Haiti by building more schools and expanding existing ones.
This project benefits around 227,000 children as well as parents, teachers, and schools.
10. Haitian girls suffer from domestic violence and have less time to attend school
Because of society in Haiti, young girls often have early children and suffer from domestic violence. This directly impacts their education, as they need to leave school early to take care of their family and their house duties.
More precisely, around 70 percent of women have been victims of domestic violence.
11. There is a huge difference between girls who are unable to attend school and the others
Not being able to attend school is a huge deal for these poor girls. Not only do they have to take care of many house duties, but they are also more vulnerable to physical, psychological, and even sexual abuse.
The ones who are lucky enough to finish primary or secondary school can more often escape these conditions and marry later.
12. Many Haitian children still do not attend school and are domestic servants instead
According to a survey, there are approximately 150,000 to 500,000 children living with another family… and are unpaid domestic servants. This represents around 13 percent of girls and almost 15 percent of boys who do not attend school. 65 percent of these servants are girls.
13. There is a lot of gender discrimination in Haiti
Girls wanting access to education are facing a lot of gender discrimination in Haiti.
The majority of domestic servants are girls, and that goes from age 5 to 17. While they enter school at the same time as boys, they drop out more often.
14. Education is in French in Haiti
In case you didn’t know, Haiti used to be a French territory, even though it is independent now.
Because of this, the influence of France still remains to this day. When it comes to education, the French language is used everywhere.
15. Many Haitians do not speak French and fail their exams because of this
French is the official language of national tests… but most Haitians speak Creole!
The consequence is that less than 22 percent of Haitian primary school pupils pass the first entrance examination at the end of grade five. Only 13 percent of girls succeed in these exams.
16. The literacy rate should be much higher in Haiti
The Haitian literacy rate is very low: only 61 percent.
This is a major problem for any country, and Haiti suffers a lot from that. But organizations like Haiti Now are committed to solving this issue. Textbooks are distributed to everyone and literacy skills are getting better and better.
17. Malnutrition is also a huge factor in poor education
On top of all the issues Haiti is already facing, malnutrition and natural disasters are huge obstacles for young children.
Maybe this will surprise you, but having a better education is better over time than food availability. Also, there are some food programs aimed at helping poor families.
18. Even though enrollment rates are better, quality education still lacks
The current enrollment rate in Haiti is 90 percent, which is definitely not bad for such a poor country.
However, the major issue remains: quality education is nowhere to be seen. Around 53 percent of students drop out before completing primary school.
19. Despite the government’s announcement, school is still private in Haiti
Even though the Haitian government announced the creation of a free, universal, and public education system for every primary-school-aged child in the country… nothing happened.
There is no government funding program now or in the near future.
20. Only children from wealthy families can attend university in Haiti
It is written in the Haitian constitution that education is guaranteed for all, for free.
However, the reality is that only wealthy families can afford to send their children to university. And even so, the few ones who actually graduate from a Haitian university choose to live abroad… at least 85 percent of them.
21. Vocational education remains a distant dream in Haiti
Haitian peasants spend most of their lives taking care of their homes, and they cannot do much for the education of their children.
The ones who wish to become better through vocational schools face lots of issues, like traveling and residential expenses.
22. International organizations are doing their best to help Haitian education
Though the situation is quite dire in Haiti, there are lots of international organizations constantly trying to save the country.
Vocational training is taken to the countryside, but even so, there are not enough jobs outside of farming.
So there you have them, these were all my 22 facts about the Haiti school system. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today.
In case you want to learn more about the Haiti education system, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:
Haitian School Hours
Let’s keep going with our next part, dedicated to Haitian school hours. The typical school schedule in one country can often be very different from your own, and it’s always interesting to have more details on how students go on about their day.
Haiti Primary School Schedule
The education system in Haiti has been in shambles since 2010 when the majority of schools were either damaged or destroyed.
There are 15,200 primary schools in the country, and most of them are managed by religious institutions. The enrollment rate is only around 30 percent, and there is no set school schedule, as not everyone can always attend school.
Haitian High School Schedule
High school is very hard to reach for most Haitian children: only 2 percent of them pass the “sertifica” examination after grade 5. A big reason why this happens is that this exam is in French, while Haitians mostly speak Creole.
Even in high school, for the few students that reach it, chaos awaits. Teachers are not prepared, materials are very poor and classrooms are in ruins. Unfortunately, students have no choice but to leave the country, if they want a decent education.
General Facts About Schooling in Haiti
This last part is dedicated to general facts about schooling in Haiti. More specifically, we’ll check 2 key figures that will give you a better understanding of the education level in Haiti.
Enrollment in tertiary education for Haiti: 0.67%
(Average for regions: Sub-Saharan Africa: 8.6% | South Asia: 20.8% | Arab States: 36.4% | East Asia: 36.5% | Latin America: 43.3% | Europe and Central Asia: 62% | North America: 84%)
Data from World Bank EdStats/UNESCO
Haiti literacy rate: 61%
(Average for regions: Sub-Saharan Africa: 65.3% | South Asia: 72.9% | Arab States: 79.4% | Latin America: 93.7% | East Asia: 95.8% | Europe and Central Asia: 98.5%)
Data from World Bank EdStats/UNESCO
More Education Facts!
Do you want even more education facts about other countries?
Check out these facts:
Or click here to see ALL the education facts up on the blog!
The Full List of 22 Haitian School Facts
- Almost every school is privately run in Haiti
- The main issue with private schools is that they ask for tuition fees
- The World Bank is helping Haiti with financial support
- Enrollment rates have risen in the past years thanks to external help
- Many Haitian children are not in the appropriate grade
- Haitian teaching methods are quite ineffective
- Some teachers in Haiti have never been to secondary school themselves
- The 2010 earthquake destroyed Haiti and its education
- There is a special project dedicated to building more primary schools in Haiti
- Haitian girls suffer from domestic violence and have less time to attend school
- There is a huge difference between girls who are unable to attend school and the others
- Many Haitian children still do not attend school and are domestic servants instead
- There is a lot of gender discrimination in Haiti
- Education is in French in Haiti
- Many Haitians do not speak French and fail their exams because of this
- The literacy rate should be much higher in Haiti
- Malnutrition is also a huge factor in poor education
- Even though enrollment rates are better, quality education still lacks
- Despite the government’s announcement, school is still private in Haiti
- Only children from wealthy families can attend university in Haiti
- Vocational education remains a distant dream in Haiti
- International organizations are doing their best to help Haitian education
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