Haiti, is a nation situated in the Caribbean Sea, inclusive of Hispaniola Island and Gonave (Cullum, 2017). Capital of Haiti is known as Port-au- Prince. Haiti’s populace consists majorly of descendants of former African slaves, who attained liberation from France in the year 1804, making it second nation in the Americas region to deliver itself from colonial administration. Nevertheless, over the years, financial, political, and communal challenges coupled with several natural disasters led to abject poverty and other severe predicaments.

 Education in Haiti

Haiti encounters both supply and demand problems in its education sector. In terms of supply, the children cannot join or enroll for school due to lack of enough space for learning. Regarding demand, the cost of educating per child is an estimated US$80 per student and annually (Laguerre, 2016). This US$ 80 caters for stationery, school uniform, transportation as a student moves from school to home, and back which is quite expensive to most of the Haitians. Furthermore, the private sector handles most of Haiti’s school curriculum and system consequently, subsidiaries are rare. 80% of the primary school institutions are private registering all the children within that level.

Currently, the most of the Haitians lack proper facilities and equipment, which would grant them quality education (Rousseau, 2018). The main factors that hinder availability of quality education are the social and economic stagnation. In spite the recent increased numbers of children enrolling in schools, the quest for the government to strengthen education meets challenges such as funding, teacher schooling and constructing of schools. These problems lead to lack of proper elementary skills, information essential for industrialization. In order for the government to address the challenges, the docket in charge of education initiated a vocational training for the youth with an operational plan.

 Gender

The Haiti constitution safeguard the right of women from prejudice in the office and even at home. More so, women have a right to run for political office, take part in voting and generally, the community protects their dignity as women (Petrozziello, 2019). Even though the country made progress, in 2012, parliament enacted a law, which would permit 30% of women in selected ranks at the national level, in 2015; the electoral decree included a 30% increment in the local council seats and contestants running for office.

 The major challenge facing Haiti is gender-based violence. One in every three females, from 15 to 49 years olds has an experience with sexual violence in one form or another (Petrozziello, 2019). In addition, inadequate legitimate protection, fear of retaliations and societal disgrace associated with being victims of sexual abuse plays a part in most of the incidences going unreported. Thus, the need for increased safety in school environments especially among teenage girls who report rape cases to the authorities.

Culture

            There are various vital aspects of the Haiti culture and norms. The culture is a perfect merger of European and African cultures originating the France establishment and the traditional ways of the slaves, their ancestors (Cullum, 2017).

 In all matters concerning faith, Haiti is a Christian nation due to the European effect when the nation was stable and the population kept growing at a steady rate. An estimated 80% of Haiti identifies, as Christian Catholics as the main religion standing and the remaining 16% of the population is protestant Christians (Rousseau, 2018). Nevertheless, some religious practices intermingle with Christian religion and that is vodou. Vodous revolve around the concepts of evil spirits manifested through objects, burning incense and oils for pleasing the spirits.

Haiti people like to sing and dance as a simple way of life for the people. This culture emerged from Spanish and African traditions. Dancing is part and parcel of their lives and in some instances they use it to practice religious norms. For instance, the carnival is one of Haiti’s most loved festivals and it incorporates dancing and singing in most of the activities taking place in the festival.

 Marriage and courtship

 In spite of outside influences, most of the Haitians preserved their courtship culture. The Haitian culture is polygamous and allows more than one wife. For instance before a man marries another wife,  he has to take his in-laws from his first marriage as wives and this often takes place if the wife cannot bear children for the man. In most cases, the courtship is similar to any other culture around the world (Laguerre, 2016). The man sees a potential wife in a women and woes her. First, he takes food to his in laws then awaits a response. Most of the times, the response is positive and the man gets to marry the woman of his dreams after the parents acknowledged the proposal.

 Household income

As stated earlier most people residing in Haiti are poor because of lack of formal job. The rate of unemployment in Haiti is at an all-time high and stands at 3.6million of the labor force does lacks persistent work hence (Laguerre, 2016). There is no legal mechanism protecting the jobs of the Haitians working in the formal sectors hence posing a major challenge.

 

References

Cullum, C. (2017). Crossing the Water and Keeping the Faith: Haitian Religion in Miami. Terry Rey Alex Stepick. New York: New York University Press, 2013. 266 pp.

Laguerre, M. S. (2016). Voodoo and politics in Haiti. Springer.

Petrozziello, A. J. (2019). (Re) producing Statelessness via Indirect Gender Discrimination: Descendants of Haitian Migrants in the Dominican Republic. International Migration, 57(1), 213-228.

Rousseau, B. (2018). Haitian Votes Matter: Haitian Immigrants in Florida in Local Politics and Government.