Can you explain some of the problems with the Hatian education system?
The education system in Haiti is in a state of crisis. Schools suffer from severe shortages of everything from physical facilities (doors, walls, benches, desks, blackboards), to basic supplies (books, paper, chalk, scissors, pens, pencils, rulers), to teachers (some city schools have 150 students in a classroom). In addition to all the other obstacles they face, teachers are further hampered by their own lack of qualifications and training. They lack both sufficient education for themselves and training in how to convey what they do know to students. For example, two-thirds of Haitian teachers have only received a grade six education (this level qualifying them to teach up to grade six). In a test administered to 1,200 teachers in 1996, most failed. Only 400 could alphabetize a list of words, and only 41 could arrange fractions by size (i.e., most did not know that 1/3 is larger than 1/6). Only a small proportion of Haitian teachers have ever received any teacher training.
