UN: Violence Is Harming Haiti’s Schools

Schools in Haiti are operating without enough chairs, blackboards, and even bathrooms.

海地的学校在运作中缺乏足够的椅子、黑板，甚至连卫生间都不足。

Violent criminal groups limit basic government services and deepen poverty while the state education system faces a $23 million deficit.

暴力犯罪团体限制了基本的政府服务，加深了贫困，而国家教育系统则面临着2300万美元的赤字。

Yasmine Sherif is the executive director of the U.N. organization Education Cannot Wait. “The country needs help,” Sherif said during her three-day visit to the Caribbean country in July.

雅斯敏·谢里夫是联合国组织“教育不能等待”的执行主任。“这个国家需要帮助，”谢里夫在她七月对这个加勒比国家进行为期三天的访问时说道。

Sherif said the organization provided $2.5 million to help nearly 75,000 children in Haiti with money, food and other programs. And she asked the European Union and other countries, including France and the U.S., to help close the educational deficit.

谢里夫说，该组织提供了250万美元，帮助了海地近7.5万名儿童提供资金、食物和其他项目。她还呼吁欧盟和包括法国、美国在内的其他国家帮助弥补教育赤字。

"My main concern is security," she said, noting the effect that violence has had on education.

“我最关心的是安全问题，”她说，并指出暴力对教育的影响。

Criminal groups, called gangs, killed or injured more than 2,500 people in the first three months of the year. Violence has seriously affected life in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and elsewhere.

被称为帮派的犯罪团伙在今年前三个月杀害或伤害了2500多人。暴力严重影响了首都太子港和其他地方的生活。

At least 919 schools remain closed in Port-au-Prince and in the central area of Artibonite because of gang violence. The U.N. says that school closures have affected more than 150,000 students.

由于帮派暴力，至少有919所学校在太子港和阿蒂博尼特中部地区关闭。联合国表示，学校关闭影响了超过15万名学生。

"Education is part of the solution," Sherif said. "That would end extreme poverty, extreme violence and create political stability and create a reliable workforce."

“教育是解决方案的一部分，”谢里夫说。“这将结束极端贫困、极端暴力，创造政治稳定，并建立可靠的劳动力。”

Gang violence impacts

帮派暴力的影响

Gang violence also has left some 580,000 people homeless across Haiti, with many crowding into temporary shelters or taking over schools, causing them to close. Schools that remain open are increasingly forced to take students from others that have closed.

帮派暴力还导致海地约58万人无家可归，许多人挤进临时避难所或占据学校，导致学校关闭。仍然开放的学校被迫接收其他关闭学校的学生。

The Jean Marie Vincent School in central Port-au-Prince, for example, has accepted students from 12 other schools.

例如，位于太子港市中心的让·玛丽·文森特学校已经接收了来自其他12所学校的学生。

Charles Luckerno is the head of the Vincent School. He said, "We're not the only ones" facing such serious problems. Luckerno said that when classes end for the day, people left homeless by gang violence enter the school and sleep on its ground.

查尔斯·卢克诺是文森特学校的校长。他说，“我们不是唯一一个”面临如此严重问题的学校。卢克诺说，当天的课程结束时，被帮派暴力搞得无家可归的人进入学校，在地上睡觉。

Although that creates health problems, Luckerno still lets them stay. He said, "We are human. We cannot throw them out."

尽管这会造成健康问题，卢克诺仍然让他们留下。他说：“我们是人类，我们不能把他们赶出去。”

Not enough chairs

椅子不足

Williamson Bissainthe is a 22-year-old high school student who is preparing to take his final exam to graduate. He described the sad state of some schools.

威廉森·比桑特是一名22岁的高中生，正在准备毕业考试。他描述了一些学校的悲惨状况。

"A lot of schools are missing benches or chairs. Teachers do not show up on time. The hardest part of this is that there are no bathrooms," he said.

“很多学校缺少长凳或椅子。老师们没有按时上课。最困难的是，这里没有卫生间，”他说。

Bissainthe added, "I hope that the generation that comes after me doesn't have to go through the same suffering.”

比桑特补充道，“我希望在我之后的下一代不必经历同样的痛苦。”

Private schools are out of reach for many in Haiti, a country of more than 11 million people. More than 60 percent of the population earns less than $2 a day.

对于拥有超过1100万人口的海地来说，私立学校对许多人来说是遥不可及的。超过60%的人口每天收入不到2美元。

Homeless students

无家可归的学生

Among those who have been forced to flee their homes is 20-year-old Megane Dumorcy. She would like to study agriculture, but completing her education has been difficult.

在那些被迫逃离家园的人中，有20岁的梅根·杜莫西。她想学习农业，但完成学业一直很困难。

"The insecurity has had a huge impact on my life," she said, noting that some students have been forced to leave their backpacks behind as they flee gangs. "The state should find a solution for that. We shouldn't be living in a country where our movement is limited."

“安全问题对我的生活产生了巨大影响，”她说，并指出一些学生在逃离帮派时不得不丢下他们的书包。“国家应该找到解决办法。我们不应该生活在一个我们的行动受到限制的国家。”

She said her school is only half-built and lacks a library, a computer room, a blackboard and chairs. She does research on her phone when needed.

她说，她的学校只建了一半，没有图书馆、计算机室、黑板和椅子。需要时她在手机上做研究。

Another blow to Haitian schools came in late 2022. That was the time the U.S. started a program permitting Haitians and people from other countries to enter the country on humanitarian grounds.

2022年底，海地学校遭受了另一次打击。当时美国开始了一项计划，允许海地人和其他国家的人以人道理由进入美国。

"A lot of teachers left," said Frantz Erine, an official at the Jean Marie Vincent School.

“很多老师离开了，”让·玛丽·文森特学校的官员弗朗茨·艾琳说。