by Milena Rampoldi, ProMosaik e.V. – We just interviewed Alex Lizzappi of the NGO Ayiti Now Corp in Miami (for more details see www.haiti-now.org) to know about the problems of poverty and lack of education in Haiti. We thank Alex a lot for his precious information. A very important mission of all organisations working in Haiti is helping restavecs. They are slave children who “belong” to well-to-do
families. They receive no pay and are kept out of school. Since the
emancipation and independence of 1804, affluent blacks and mulattoes
have reintroduced slavery by using children of the very poor as house
servants. They promise poor families in faraway villages who have too
many mouths to feed a better life for their children. Once acquired,
these children lose contact with their families and, like slaves of the
past, are sometimes given new names for the sake of convenience.

EDUCATION IN HAITI

Prior to the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th and 19th centuries,
education was the responsibility of parents and the church. At that time
is was primarily available to the upper classes and thus served to
further widen the socioeconomic gap between the working class and elite
members of society (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011). With the onset of
the French and American revolutions in the late 1700s, revolutionaries
sought for education to be recognized as a public good (Brockliss,
1987). As such, the state would assume an active role in the education
sector making it accessible to all. The development of socialist theory
in the nineteenth century further supported this view, as it emphasized
that the state‘s primary responsibility was to ensure the economic and
social well-being of the community through government intervention and
regulation in all sectors. While pre-Enlightenment scholars believed
education to be a privilege, the period after the revolutions of 18th
and 19th centuries came to view education as a right (Encyclopædia
Britannica, 2011).
Education policy in Haiti, at that time, paralleled this thinking.
The first Haitian constitution of 1801 mirrored the pre-Enlightenment
view of education that the private sector should ultimately be
responsible for the education of its youth. The constitution stated
that, ―every person has the right to form private establishments for the
education and instruction of youth‖ (Haiti Government, 1801). However,
with the constitution revision of 1807, the practice of providing public
education for all was established. Article 34 of the 1807 constitution
establishes that, ―A central school shall be established in each
Division and proper schools shall be established in each District‖
(Haiti Government, 1807). However, despite the influence of the French
on Haiti‘s state formation, it wasn‘t until more than 100 years after
the French had established education as a human right that Haiti
incorporated this principle into their constitution. In 1987, the GoH
redrafted its 1987 constitution of Haiti to
include Article 22, which reads, ―The State recognizes the right of
every citizen to decent housing, education, food and social security‖
(Haiti Government, 1987).
Despite the 1987 constitution of Haiti proclamation
of education as a human right, many individuals still consider it a
privilege to have the opportunity to attend school, where alternatively,
in many other parts of the world, education is considered a human
right. Families are often willing to sacrifice up to half their income,
of approximately 400 USD annually, to send their children to school
(McNulty, 2011). However, an inordinate number of children do not have
the opportunity to enjoy the same privilege (Bruemmer, 2011). Of the
approximately three to 3.5 million school-age children in Haiti, 800,000
do not have access to education (Bruemmer, 2011). In fact, Haitian
public schools have the capacity to serve only one quarter of the
school-age population (The World Bank, 2006). Even before the
earthquake, 25 percent of Haiti‘s school districts, mostly in rural
areas, did not have a school. Due to these challenges, the average
Haitian child receives only five years of education (Bruemmer, 2011).
– See more at: http://haiti-now.org/about/the-importance-of-education-in-haiti/#sthash.feIvPrb9.dpuf

EDUCATION IN HAITI

Prior to the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th and 19th centuries,
education was the responsibility of parents and the church. At that time
is was primarily available to the upper classes and thus served to
further widen the socioeconomic gap between the working class and elite
members of society (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011). With the onset of
the French and American revolutions in the late 1700s, revolutionaries
sought for education to be recognized as a public good (Brockliss,
1987). As such, the state would assume an active role in the education
sector making it accessible to all. The development of socialist theory
in the nineteenth century further supported this view, as it emphasized
that the state‘s primary responsibility was to ensure the economic and
social well-being of the community through government intervention and
regulation in all sectors. While pre-Enlightenment scholars believed
education to be a privilege, the period after the revolutions of 18th
and 19th centuries came to view education as a right (Encyclopædia
Britannica, 2011).
Education policy in Haiti, at that time, paralleled this thinking.
The first Haitian constitution of 1801 mirrored the pre-Enlightenment
view of education that the private sector should ultimately be
responsible for the education of its youth. The constitution stated
that, ―every person has the right to form private establishments for the
education and instruction of youth‖ (Haiti Government, 1801). However,
with the constitution revision of 1807, the practice of providing public
education for all was established. Article 34 of the 1807 constitution
establishes that, ―A central school shall be established in each
Division and proper schools shall be established in each District‖
(Haiti Government, 1807). However, despite the influence of the French
on Haiti‘s state formation, it wasn‘t until more than 100 years after
the French had established education as a human right that Haiti
incorporated this principle into their constitution. In 1987, the GoH
redrafted its 1987 constitution of Haiti to
include Article 22, which reads, ―The State recognizes the right of
every citizen to decent housing, education, food and social security‖
(Haiti Government, 1987).
Despite the 1987 constitution of Haiti proclamation
of education as a human right, many individuals still consider it a
privilege to have the opportunity to attend school, where alternatively,
in many other parts of the world, education is considered a human
right. Families are often willing to sacrifice up to half their income,
of approximately 400 USD annually, to send their children to school
(McNulty, 2011). However, an inordinate number of children do not have
the opportunity to enjoy the same privilege (Bruemmer, 2011). Of the
approximately three to 3.5 million school-age children in Haiti, 800,000
do not have access to education (Bruemmer, 2011). In fact, Haitian
public schools have the capacity to serve only one quarter of the
school-age population (The World Bank, 2006). Even before the
earthquake, 25 percent of Haiti‘s school districts, mostly in rural
areas, did not have a school. Due to these challenges, the average
Haitian child receives only five years of education (Bruemmer, 2011).
– See more at: http://haiti-now.org/about/the-importance-of-education-in-haiti/#sthash.feIvPrb9.dpuf