Before the quake it was reported that only 50% of children in Haiti when to school. Now approximately 90% of the schools from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel have collapsed. School is suppose to resume in April. Half a million people fled Port-au-Prince for the countryside. Those schools will face overcrowding and relatives with meager resources may be forced to kill their livestock instead of selling it to feed the extras mouths.
In the meantime, I wonder how students pass time. What will happen to all of the university students studying to be engineers, nurses, doctors, teachers or lawyers? There was already a small number of students in college. Can we afford to let their futures hang in the balance? Haiti needs them to rebuild. Will they finish out their school year? I read in the New York Times that Dillard University, a historically Black university in New Orleans, LA has agreed to open its doors to Haitian students. I hope others step up to the plate as well.
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