The school journey should never be a gamble

UNICEF reported on a 17-year-old student identified as Rosine (a protective pseudonym) who described worrying about danger while traveling to and from school in Port-au-Prince. Her story is not a Bisou Bisou Haiti participant account; it comes from UNICEF’s reporting.

What the reporting tells us

Rosine’s experience shows why an available classroom is not enough. A student needs a route to reach it, confidence that the journey is possible, and emotional support to remain focused once inside. Fear can consume the attention that learning requires.

The aspiration for any education initiative in Haiti must therefore include safety-conscious access, flexible learning, and support for students whose lives do not follow a normal school calendar. A safer path to learning is part of educational opportunity itself.

The route is part of the classroom

Access is not measured only by the number of schools with open doors. A family must weigh the cost of transport, information about road safety, and whether the journey can be made consistently. When a young person has to calculate danger before each lesson, even an open school may remain effectively inaccessible.

What can help

When reading a child’s reported experience, it is important to distinguish what the student actually said from broader conclusions about the crisis. The reporting linked below is the source of the account. Bisou Bisou Haiti does not claim the student took part in our programs, and the photograph on this page is illustrative rather than an image of that individual.

A school’s status can change faster than a national statistic. Compare this chapter with our subsequent reporting on closure figures, relocated families and the kinds of school investments that may help learning resume.