Education in the Wake of Natural Disaster

Vallas, an education reform expert who advised the Government of Haiti on its national education plan, describes the problems of Haiti's education system before the 2010 earthquake and the planning that followed. He cites the Ministry of Education estimate that 23 percent of schools were affected by the earthquake, over three quarters of them damaged or destroyed, and the Government's figure that 60 percent of government, administrative and economic infrastructure was destroyed.

The core of the study is the Operational Plan for Rebuilding the Education System, developed by the Working Group on Education and Training and presented as a strategy of incentives and financial support in exchange for substantive reform. The report says full nationwide implementation would require as much as USD 4.2 billion over five years, or more than USD 800 million a year. Its conclusion names five steps that must happen now: strengthening the Director General's office, developing the national curriculum, aligning teacher training, establishing a facilities authority and creating an international fundraising entity. The text draws on examples from post-earthquake Chile and post-Katrina New Orleans.