English.news.cn 2010-02-02 09:48:46
PORT-AU-PRINCE,
Feb. 1 (Xinhua) — Schools in Haiti’s capital city re-opened on Monday
after the Jan. 12 killer earthquake as President Rene Preval said all
elementary schools should re-open in March.
UNICEF
communication officer Francis Vanni said that children would return to
school activities as soon as their schools are ready to receive them in
Port-au-Prince and the other towns affected by the earthquake.
Vanni
also said that as efforts to rebuild all schools would take time, he
urged the international community to continue assisting Haitian
children.
On Monday, some children were seen walking with
their parents to the few schools that were re-opened with limited
curricular activities.
Children are most vulnerable to
post-quake crisis in Port-au-Prince, with 75 percent of the city was
devastated by the magnitude-7.3 quake.
Re-opening schools
and resuming school activities are expected to help children in ways
that are beneficial to them physically and mentally.
COMMENT: HAITIAN-TRUTH.ORG
This is another cynical move by President Preval.
He has already been advised by the nation’s educational experts that schools cannot be re-opened effectively for something near 12 months. To simply state that the schools have reopened is nothing but a Public Relations Lie. Most of the nation’s schools have been destroyed. many of the teachers are dead.
The system is not capable of even mounting a minor babysitting effort, let alone partial school classes. The families and children are not capable of participating. Even before the quake, Preval’s school system was an absurdity. Almost 50% of the nation’s students were not attending school simply because they did not have the money required.
The school system was about 200% better under Jean-Claude Duvalier’s presidency if one is to believe State Department statistics.
This isn’t going to benefit the students physically, or mentally. Preval hopes it will benefit him politically.
Why doesn’t anyone call President Preval’s hand on his cynical manipulation of the facts?