Attempts are however being made to safeguard the interests of children within the education system. The Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) has set up several distance education programmes.
This was achieved through the Global Coalition for Education, launched by UNESCO with the support of several states to develop the best solutions for distance education for children and young students most at risk.
Benefactors have included the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and UNICEF.
Most of it is conducted via a platform called PR@TIC which has been operational since April 24, 2020. It can be accessed free of charge via the MENFP's website or at the following address: http://pratic.menpf.gouv.ht/app/.
However, given a high level of poverty, limited access to electricity is scarce, and the unavailability of online devices, only a limited number of economically enabled households have been able to access the service.
There are also plans to develop broadcasting portals on radio and television to deliver distance education making use of the National Television of Haiti (TNH) and other private channels as well as radio stations in the capital and in the departments, through community radios.
The learning content will also be available on USB media in the relevant departments and technical directions for students.
WhatsApp messaging has also long been employed as a way of keeping teachers in contact with students. The practice emerged in 2018 during disturbances. The platform was also deployed during several pandemic lockdown phases.
There however continue to be concerns directed at the very young. Elvire Eugene, Director of the “Institution Saint Enfant Jesus”, a school for children aged 3 to 6, has observed a disturbing level of complacency and a lack of awareness of the seriousness of the pandemic by both children and their parents.
“Children take the coronavirus for a game,” she said. “Even when they are taught to put on a mask, they have difficulty in applying it on the face. A lot of times they put it under their chin saying they can't breathe.”
The educator has however noted an improvement in the way children wear masks - largely due to the awareness and education efforts of their parents. At school, she uses an audio cassette to repeat the instructions for wearing a mask.
Eugene however noted that the most difficult measure is respecting social distancing protocols. She said that after each reminder, the children distance themselves from their classmates. But it only takes a few minutes for them to forget the instructions and start playing together, without any precaution.
“Social distancing greatly affects young children. When they fail, they tend to regroup. They say it clearly, it saddens them not to be able to play with their school friends. It is painful for them to see their comrade and not be able to touch him,” she said.
She goes on to say that since teachers have observed a tendency in children to wear their fingers and pencil in their mouths, she has demanded regular hand washing.
At Institution Saint Enfant Jesus, there have been no reported cases of infection, though there have been situations where children have displayed some symptoms - fever, cough or flu-like symptoms. On such occasions, the children stay at home for two or three days before returning to class.
Since Haiti is a country where these kinds of respiratory infections or fevers are common, and there has not been little specific testing, Eugene said she cannot consider these instances to be cases of coronavirus.
Ms Eugene also noted that the pandemic has had little or no impact on school performance. The level of stress observed in some children, she said, is rather due to the violence linked to the current political crisis and issues such as the shortage of fuel and the high cost of living.
“Political tensions and the shortage of fuel have a greater impact on children than COVID-19.” she added.
This situation has been a source of great concern by teachers. Eugene noted one heart-breaking instance when a child told her that “with all these difficulties in life, the ups and downs of coming to school for lack of fuel, the high cost of living, the inability to buy enough to eat with 50 gourdes, God better take his life.”
She herself is less fearful of the death of children from the virus than because of political tension and dysfunctional state governance.
“The children followed their parents’ advice and the instructions of their school as best they could, without really believing that corona represents a danger to their life,” she concluded.
Orphaned children also confront similar challenges, including effective denial by parents, teachers and other adults of the threat COVID-19 poses. Debbie Harvey of “Helping Haitian Angels” says there is a view, even among the children, that the virus is “a problem of Americans.”
Those in charge of the orphanage had to apply strict instructions in terms of social distance, hand washing, wearing of masks, quarantine for people with symptoms, temperature control, confinement, suspension in the event of suspicion of a symptomatic person.
Harvey insisted that when you take the time to educate children and explain a situation in detail, they respond better and cooperate effectively.
Even adults, teachers, and members of the community where the orphanage is located were sceptical of COVID-19 and refused to treat it as a real danger. “They kept saying, there is no COVID-19 in Haiti. It’s the disease of whites and those who travel to their country,” Harvey said.
The orphanage had to spend a lot in terms of time and resources, organising special classes to make everyone understand that this is a situation to be taken seriously.
Returning from the United States with a negative test, the teacher tested positive after a stay in Haiti. Which means, she contracted it in her work environment.
Harvey observed a flu epidemic among children at an unusual time of year and decided to keep her case a secret for fear of being attacked by some members of the community who could accuse her of introducing this “white man's disease” into Haiti. Before quarantining herself in a hotel, she observed a large number of people with breathing difficulties and pain in the joints of the feet.
Fortunately, no deaths have been recorded at this orphanage. People who were coughing had not been tested by the Ministry of Public Health. Sometimes she had to close the centre for a while.
Her orphanage, which is among the three certified centres in the North of the country, is yet to receive specific COVID-19 visits or assistance from Haitian authorities.
Haitians meanwhile remain largely unaware of the dangers of COVID-19. “Because everyone was repeating “virus, virus” “corona, corona” it caused anxiety in some children who at this time were extremely concerned with the lives of some American supporters who had visited the orphanage,” Harvey said.
She is however convinced that “if you explain to the children what this is about, they can understand, not panic and cope better.”
Harvey adds that among the more serious impacts of the virus is a periodic decline in attendance. She fears it may take a long time to see many of them return to school.
She notes what she describes as “a trivialisation of death” among some children who continue to describe it as “an American issue.”
Harvey however thinks that abandoned or orphaned children with latent trauma problems are very sensitive to the stress that the pandemic can cause – a phenomenon they do not quite believe exists, but which continues to impose itself on the population.
Correspondent Cyrus Sibert interviews Debbie Harvey
