How missed lessons accumulate: Haiti’s learning recovery challenge in 2024

When classrooms reopen after violence, teachers often meet students who have lived through different interruptions. Some have continued studying at home; others have missed months of instruction or moved between temporary shelters.

What the reporting tells us

The United Nations described the difficulties facing families and educators in Haiti in April 2024. Education Cannot Wait announced additional emergency support that July, including approaches intended to help students regain access to learning.

Learning recovery requires more than asking students to catch up by working harder. Without understanding what a learner already knows, rushed instruction may deepen frustration.

Recovery starts with listening

A practical sequence is to ask what schooling was interrupted, check a few core skills, identify what can be learned in small groups and follow progress over time. Families also need accessible information about registration, locations and any materials that can be used outside class.

What can help

For educators and supporters, useful next steps include asking which students are not attending, identifying the precise lessons missed, and coordinating accessible materials with local teachers. A response is stronger when progress can be checked over time, instead of measuring success only by the number of items distributed or events held.

The educational consequences are cumulative. Later chapters explore what catch-up lessons, accessible teaching materials and safe spaces can—and cannot—do for learners whose routines have been interrupted.