The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) states in its last report the need to ensure that students return to school at the earliest opportunity is complicated by the use of an estimated 86 schools as shelters.

The issue of eviction of families temporarily sheltered in schools has been at the centre of the work of humanitarian organizations in affected areas. As indicated in the previous Situation Report, students and local authorities have increased the pressure on families to leave a number of schools https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19241-haiti-flash-disaster-victims-refuse-to-leave-schools.html . Despite working closely with governmental counterparts to resolve this issue, local authorities have begun forcibly evicting people from some of the schools.

In Les Cayes, close to 1,000 people were forcibly expelled from École Nationale Dumarsais Estimé in the night of 15 November.

"This is not an acceptable solution and the humanitarian community will continue to work to address the situation whilst advocating strongly for any returns process to be underpinned by the applicable principles and conducted in a voluntary and dignified manner, particularly focusing on the needs of the vulnerable," stressed OCHA.

On 18 November, a rapid verification revealed that schools scheduled to host polling centres in Les Cayes and Torbeck had either been emptied or alternative locations for voting had been found

Meanwhile in Jérémie, the Centre d’Opérations d’Urgence Départemental (COUD) reported that between 9 and 18 November the number of public shelters in Grand’Anse decreased from 76 to 36. Of those, the number of schools went from 37 to 23. The estimate number of families in those shelters dropped from 3,706 to 2,369. Verification of these numbers will take place in coming days.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19286-haiti-education-schooling-of-490-000-students-affected-by-matthew.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19241-haiti-flash-disaster-victims-refuse-to-leave-schools.html

HL/ HaitiLibre