Some Haiti schools set to reopen

Some Haitian schools were preparing Saturday to reopen for the first time since the disastrous Jan. 12 earthquake, officials said.

Pierre Michel Laguerre, director general of Haiti’s Education Ministry, told that while some areas of the country that were particularly hard hit may not see their schools reopen until next fall, some were getting ready to reopen Monday.

He said an untold number of students have lost one or both parents in the earthquake and the trauma of the disaster has made it imperative that Haiti’s schools reopen as quickly as possible.

“Haiti can’t have a future without educated children,” Laguerre told the newspaper. “But there has been so much destruction, it’s a big and unprecedented challenge for us.”

Laguerre told the Journal all of the schools on the western side of Port au-Prince were completely destroyed by the temblor, with 40 percent in the southern percent of the capital severely damaged.

A preliminary U.N. estimate reportedly calls for at least 4,000 temporary classrooms.

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