Education: A Fundamental Human Right

“Education is a fundamental human right and essential for the exercise of all other human rights. It promotes individual freedom and empowerment and yields important development benefits. Yet millions of children and adults remain deprived of educational opportunities, many as a result of poverty.”
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization 

Philadelphia Baptist School of Pignon and Phila Academie des Petits are back in session!

We are excited for the 200+ students’ minds and hearts as they learn, grow, expand and are filled with hope this school year.

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For those of us living in the United States, education is a privilege and access to school is easily taken for granted. Our children are able to get a quality k-12 education, tuition-free. In addition, if we don’t have the means to send our children to school with a full belly and lunch in hand, they have access to a free breakfast and lunch through our public school system.

Most of us aren’t worrying about whether or not we can send our kids to school on a full stomach, afford a $3 tuition fee, or about the early 2 mile walk our kids will have to make on rocky, dirty and often dangerous roads just to get to school. But the reality is that millions of people around the world ‘are deprived of educational opportunities’ and many of those people live in Haiti.  We in the United States have a privilege that many people in the world have never known and Loving Haiti desires to provide our brothers and sisters in Haiti with a fundamental human right, education.

 

There are many reasons that make attending school difficult for Haitian children but among the top are poverty and lack of access.

It is estimated that in Haiti only 50% of children are able to attend school.

With an adult (15 yrs +) literacy rate of only 60% and  60% of children abandoning school before sixth grade, the challenge to break free from the cycle of poverty without a proper education becomes monstrous.

Haiti has very few public schools. In fact, Haiti’s public schools have the capacity to serve only 25% of the school age population.

With minimal government oversight, about 75% of the primary schools in Haiti are privately managed by churches, NGO’s, communities and profit operators.

For most children to attend school in Haiti they must pay tuition and because Haiti continues to be the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (with the average Haitian making $2 per day), school fees can be prohibitively expensive, especially for low income families.

Once you find a school in Haiti that you can afford, keeping your child enrolled through graduation and hoping they receive a quality education is difficult considering half of the public sector teachers in Haiti lack basic qualifications and almost 80% of teachers have not received pre-service training.

In this impoverished country where school fees are too expensive for many to attend and there is a shortage in qualified teachers, attending a good school, receiving a great education, and graduating through all 13 years of schooling is very difficult.

If you live in a rural community, you have even less of a chance of receiving a quality education.

Here at Loving Haiti, we believe every person deserves a quality education, that education breeds empowerment, and that empowered people change the world.

Philadelphia Baptist School of Pignon and Phila Academie des Petits serve to educate the low income, rural and orphaned populations of children in Pignon, Haiti  with quality teachers and a transforming education. Since these two schools receive none to very little government assistance, tuition fees, supplies, teacher’s salaries and the fees required to run these schools are funded in part by Loving Haiti, Reston Bible Church and private donors.We are working together to ensure these children get the education they deserve, education that will provide hope and empower each child while helping to break the cycle of poverty.

In addition to feeding their souls and minds, it is our hope that the 200+ students also receive a substantial snack or lunch each day. For many of these children this might be their only meal of the day.

Between both schools there are:

200 students
10 teachers
2 directors
1 secretary
1 treasurer
3 helpers/assistants
1 security guard.

So not only are 200 students able to attend school but 18 Haitians are being employed!

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Thank you for helping us provide a quality education for 200 children in Pignon, Haiti.

Thank you for helping change the trajectory of 200 lives and helping break the cycle of poverty through education.

Thank you for providing hope and a future to 200 beautiful souls.

Due to the increase of students this year and the hiring of qualified teachers, we are in great need of your help in order to continue delivering a high quality education to the children of Pignon and to retain a highly qualified teaching staff. 

Would you be willing and able to commit to partnering with Loving Haiti to provide access to a life-changing education for the children of Pignon, Haiti by donating monthly?! Can you give $10, $25, $50, $100, or more each month?

We need your help.

 Loving Haiti relies on the generosity of donors, like you, to partner with us in bringing hope to Pignon, Haiti.

If you would like to be a part of improving the current statistic of only 50%  of children in Haiti attending school please partner with us in supporting Philadelphia Baptist School and Phila Academie des Petits as they work hard to empower their students to a better future.

Thank you!

“Education breeds confidence.
Confidence breeds hope.
Hope breeds peace.”
-Confucius

 

Sources: World Bank. USAID. CIA WORLD FACTBOOK. UNICEF. Ayiti Now Corp.

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