Haiti

In formal education, children four to six years of age go to the jardins d'enfants (kindergarten) or to the enfantin in the private schools. Traditionally, only families that could afford to pay for this stage of their children's education would consider it at all; these families usually live in the city. The decree of 1982 has not changed that situation, even though it stresses the democratic principle of universal accessibility. Once again, the immense majority of children are left out of the process while a generous system of laws is in place. In addition, the 1990s have witnessed a proliferation of preprimary schools, but they were created for the rich and exist purely for mercantile purposes. In the traditional primary schools, pupils study French grammar, arithmetic, world history, world geography, Haitian history, Haitian geography, religion, civic instruction, introduction to sciences, drawing, and physical education. In rural schools, where instruction is given in Creole, a basic reading, writing, and arithmetic package is offered with the other subjects added depending on availability of personnel. Final examinations passed satisfactorily permit access to the next higher grade.

In public schools, classrooms are overcrowded. A class may hold between 70 and 80 children. The facilities are dilapidated and offer no security, comfort, or hygiene. There is often no water, no electricity, and no recreational space. In rural areas, the situation is even worse since children must walk for one or two hours to go to school. The teachers in those areas function irregularly, being often late or absent, because they face the same hurdles as their pupils. In 1998-1999, some 16.44 percent of all schools were public schools and 83.60 percent were private. It should be understood that private schools have outnumbered public schools consistently since 1975, partly because of the Protestant schools created in the country for humanitarian purposes and partly because of the entrepreneurial schools that have sprung like mushrooms in the past two decades.

There are 6,111 primary schools. The school-age population is estimated at 3,000,000 and only 800,000 can be accommodated, although with difficulty. Therefore, 2,200,000 children are left out. These numbers do not take into account the normal evolution of the school-age population, which every year increases by 150,000 to 200,000 people. Out of 100 children who enter the traditional primary school, 67 will finish the fourth year of the cycle. Of these, 42 will give up school entirely to become functionally illiterate for the rest of their lives. A growing number of children are unable to read or write after four years of schooling. Each year 68 percent of school age children (mostly in rural areas) cannot find a school in which to enroll. More boys than girls are enrolled, but enrollment of girls, which has maintained itself at 46 percent across the board for several years, is growing faster than enrollment of boys.