Gangs have taken over Haiti. Schools must educate anyway.
| Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Route de Fr猫res is a major artery connecting the heart of Port-au-Prince with nearby suburbs, typically flanked by open-air markets, crowds of students making their way to school on foot, and a cacophony of bumper-to-bumper traffic.
But on a sunny morning this spring, the thoroughfare was eerily empty 鈥� slowly becoming the new normal.
It鈥檚 just one result of gang violence that has spiked since 2021 and spiraled since the spring,聽forcing entire neighborhoods into lockdown today.
Why We Wrote This
Haiti has dealt with decades of political turmoil and natural disasters. Although there hasn鈥檛 been an uninterrupted academic year since 2017, schools here embody hope for a stabler future.
After decades of on-again, off-again political turmoil, insecurity, and repeated devastating natural disasters, Haiti is no stranger to crisis. It does not have an elected leader and hasn鈥檛 held a presidential election in seven years. In March, the former prime minister was forced by increasingly powerful gangs and loss of support from the United States to step down. Interim Prime Minister Garry Conille, appointed by an interim presidential council, took office in late May.
Despite these real challenges, Haitians are adept at meeting crises head on. And one need not look further than the country鈥檚 primary and secondary schools to understand the extent of Haiti鈥檚 troubles, as teachers and administrators scramble to educate a generation otherwise lost to insecurity.聽
鈥淲e are no strangers to interruption,鈥� says Ralph Ganthier, director of Coll猫ge Florian Ganthier (CFG). The private 海角大神 K-12 school off Route de Fr猫res is running one month later than the school calendar to make up for the weeks of canceled classes due to violence this year. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had an uninterrupted school year since 2017.鈥�
A history of crisis
Haiti is home to the first successful revolt of enslaved people, which led to its independence in 1804. Since its emergence as the first Black republic, Haitians have struggled to establish a state that lives up to its promise of liberation. This includes facing external economic pressures such as an indemnity to France for recognition as a state, and internal failures of the elite economic and political classes to embrace democratic principles. The U.S. invaded Haiti in 1915 and ran it until 1934. From 1957 to 1986, the father-son Duvalier dictatorships dominated political life.
The most recent security crisis in Port-au-Prince began in 2021, following the assassination of President Jovenel Mo茂se. Since then, armed groups have strengthened their control of the capital and parts of the nearby Artibonite department through kidnappings and homicides, and by driving people out of their homes with threats. Some 580,000 Haitians are across the country, according to the International Organization for Migration, a 60% increase since March.聽
In neighborhoods like P茅tion-Ville, where CFG is located, made of sacks of sand have been erected to deter unwanted groups from entering the area. In late March, a bloody gunfight took place near the school between police and their citizen supporters, and armed groups. Two popular .
Florian Ganthier, Mr. Ganthier鈥檚 father, founded CFG in 1980. In the four decades since, the Ganthier family and the school have navigated multiple complicated political and social emergencies with resourcefulness, creativity 鈥� and urgency.
The younger Mr. Ganthier recalls that when he was a child in the early 鈥�90s, the international community imposed on Haiti after its army ousted what was considered its first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Because of fuel shortages, public transport took a hit, and 鈥渕ost schools had to shut down,鈥� says Mr. Ganthier. 鈥淏ut my parents found a way to keep the school running by adopting a three-day week.鈥�
In January 2010, a devastating earthquake hit the capital. It caused an estimated 300,000 deaths, displaced more than a million people, and damaged nearly half of all structures in the greater Port-au-Prince area. CFG was severely damaged, forcing the school to move to the concrete building it currently occupies.
鈥淩eopening was nearly impossible,鈥� says Mr. Ganthier, who had returned to Haiti only three days before the 2010 quake after working and studying abroad for four years. 鈥淲e were unable to pay our teachers. It took months to find an alternative plan and negotiate a deal with our [staff] that could help us resume classes,鈥� he says. The school finally opened three months later, in April 2010, a better outcome than that of many educational institutions in Port-au-Prince.
Chipping away at progress
The earthquake has had long-lasting consequences for Haitian politics.
鈥淵ou need to go back to the 2010 earthquake and the 2011 presidential elections that followed it鈥� to really understand what鈥檚 going on in Haiti today, says V茅lina 脡lys茅e Charlier, a political activist and member of Nou Pap D貌mi (We Will Not Sleep), an anti-corruption collective.
The international community pressured Haiti to hold elections before it was ready, when much of the country was still under rubble and in survival mode. Haitian experts warned the nation wasn鈥檛 ready to 鈥渉old well-organized and fair elections,鈥� says Ms. Charlier. That external push brought to power a party with ties to the country鈥檚 former dictatorship, and for the past 12 years, it has pillaged state coffers, armed and funded gangs, and weakened Haiti鈥檚 institutions.
The government was 鈥渘ever designed to serve us in the first place,鈥� says Sabine Lamour, professor of sociology at the State University of Haiti and currently visiting faculty at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown University. 鈥淎 crisis implies that what is happening is abnormal, an out-of-the-ordinary unstable situation with impending change. But we are in a society where political troubles and instability have been the daily lives of Haitians since 1806.鈥�
Mr. Ganthier, who took over CFG in 2010, says despite the school鈥檚 staying power, the country鈥檚 recent instability has chipped away at his family鈥檚 work.
Before 2021, for example, fewer than 5% of CFG students failed state exams. Last year, the number was 31%, according to school records.
鈥淭he [security] situation has had a major psychological effect on the children. They鈥檙e not at peace. The child can鈥檛 do their homework because they are always in a state of anxiety, so we have to be understanding of ... the trauma that exists,鈥� he says.
Education 鈥渋s no longer a right, but a privilege鈥� in Port-au-Prince, says Christon St. Fort, director of the Federation of Protestant Schools of Haiti, a network of 3,000 schools to which CFG belongs.
鈥淓ach school tries to address the challenges. ... Some schools have no choice but to shut down,鈥� says Mr. St. Fort.
鈥淓ducation is the way鈥�
In October 2022, the interim government requested a multinational security force to combat Haiti鈥檚 deadly gang violence. After a year of back and forth, the United Nations Security Council approved sending a Kenya-led foreign mission to Haiti, which has yet to materialize.聽
Over the past three years, calls for a locally led, Haitian political solution have grown. Yet the international community has not been receptive, Dr. Lamour says.
Haitian schools, tasked with educating the nation鈥檚 future leaders, have been left to improvise. So far this year, due to security challenges, CFG students were only permitted on campus for two weeks in January, and then the school shuttered for six weeks straight between the end of February and April.
鈥淥nline teaching does not solve the problem,鈥� says Mr. Ganthier. 鈥淢ost of our students come from underserved neighborhoods and usually can鈥檛 afford a reliable internet connection; when they can, they are dealing with electricity鈥� cuts.
As a temporary solution, CFG teachers prepare homework packets that families can pick up from the school secretary, Mr. Ganthier says. Students then turn in their work via the messaging application WhatsApp.
But this implies a relatively stable home and family life. When armed groups started displacing entire neighborhoods in downtown Port-au-Prince, CFG received new students whose families fled to the suburbs in search of security. But they鈥檙e losing families, too.
鈥淲hen students leave, we simply stop seeing them. We don鈥檛 know they鈥檙e gone until we receive a call from another school requesting their transcripts,鈥� says Mr. Ganthier.聽
The enduring nature of Haiti鈥檚 unrest raises concerns about the country鈥檚 future.
鈥淎ll the things that made me love Haiti when I was a kid 鈥� traveling, the beach, friends 鈥� are less accessible to鈥� my children, says Ms. Charlier. 鈥淚t makes me worry about their connection to our home. And makes me think that they will choose to leave one day and never want to return.鈥�
To Mr. St. Fort, what鈥檚 at stake is the very future of Haitian society. 鈥淚f schools close, more young people will join the ranks of the gangs. Now more than ever ... we need to protect Haitian children鈥檚 right to receive a high-quality education.鈥�
Through it all, what keeps Mr. Ganthier going is his profound sense of duty to his country and his family.
鈥淚 wanted to do something that could have a tangible positive impact on the lives of Haitians,鈥� Mr. Ganthier says. 鈥淚 deeply believe that education is the way.鈥�
This story was produced with support from the Round Earth Media Program of the International Women鈥檚 Media Foundation, in partnership with Woy Magazine.聽
