The Ministry of National Education denounces and condemns, with all its strength, all acts of destruction which continue to be perpetrated against schools and universities. Attacking schools and universities, destroying archives, burning schools and universities, destroying school and university materials, is to destroy the main members of a society, is to destroy the central pillar of a house which allows it is up to all of society to stand strong to prepare for the future of children and young people and the future of the country.

The Frère Nau school and the École Normale Supérieure of Port-au-Prince where bandits looted and burned the premises are the last two major groups of these bandits.

The Ministry calls for everyone to come together to protect schools, reiterating that "children's right to education must be protected at all times. Schools will not perish. Let's come together to save schools and children."

For its part, UNICEF strongly condemns the attack by heavily armed individuals who entered the premises of the Frère Nau school on March 25, which they looted, setting fire to 23 classrooms, depriving more than 1,000 children of their right to education.

The number of schools forced to close due to violence and insecurity has increased in recent months. By the end of January, around 900 schools had been temporarily closed, depriving around 200,000 children of their right to education. Threats to school security are particularly worrying in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and in northern Artibonite.

"In a country facing increasingly complex conflicts and instability, education can never be seen as an option [...] Attacks on schools violate children’s rights and international humanitarian law. Schools should be safe and protected spaces at all times. It is hard to believe that children have to live in constant fear of such attacks. This should not be their reality. Attacks on children and families must stop, once and for all."

Thumbnail : At the top partial fire at the École Normale Supérieure at the bottom fire at the Frère Nau school.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41979-haiti-flash-update-on-the-situation-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41869-haiti-ueh-catastrophic-partial-assessment-of-the-looting-of-the-famv.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41779-haiti-flash-the-metropolitan-area-under-attacks.html

HL/ S/ HaitiLibre