Haiti’s security depends on education. What will it take?

What if Haiti’s path to security begins not with the next security operation, but with what happens in a classroom?

That may sound unrealistic in a country where armed gangs control neighborhoods, families are displaced and basic security remains elusive. But Haitians themselves understand that lasting security cannot be separated from the opportunities available to their children.

A recent Chatham House survey of Haitians living in Haiti found that nearly 70% of respondents identified Haiti’s weak public education and health systems as issues that must be addressed alongside the gang crisis, as the Miami Herald recently reported. Haitians are saying that education is not a luxury to be addressed after security is restored. It is part of the foundation for security itself.

The numbers are stark. Haiti has roughly four million students, yet only about 17% of children who enter the school system graduate from high school. According to Haiti’s Ministry of National Education the country has approximately 18,000 schools, but only about 2,700 are public. Of roughly four million students, only about 800,000 attend free public schools.

For millions of Haitian families, education therefore depends on the ability to pay private-school tuition. In communities already struggling with poverty, displacement and violence, that is not a sustainable foundation for national stability.

At PRODEV, we have witnessed both the challenges and the possibilities. Following Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, we launched an emergency education initiative that led to the construction of a school near Cité Soleil, one of Haiti’s most dangerous communities. We also invested in teacher training because rebuilding education is not simply about constructing buildings. It is about strengthening teachers, institutions and learning environments so children receive the quality education they deserve.

Today, that mission is more urgent than ever. Thousands of children are among Haiti’s estimated 1.5 million displaced people, while the country is also confronting the challenge of absorbing children and families expelled from the United States and the Dominican Republic.

But Haiti has an extraordinary resource that can help meet this moment: its diaspora.

Haitians abroad send $5 billion dollars home this year, and a significant share already supports school fees and other education expenses. The opportunity is to move beyond individual assistance toward a coordinated national investment in education.

Imagine organizing Haiti into educational regions where the Ministry of National Education works alongside communities, educators, Haitian and diaspora organizations, technology professionals and international partners. Together, they could identify needs, coordinate investments, strengthen teacher training, share knowledge and establish measurable goals for improving educational outcomes.

The ministry has an essential role in providing leadership, national standards, coordination and accountability. But government cannot do this alone.

This is why PRODEV is calling on Haitians and allies at home and abroad to act.

We call on educators to share their expertise and strengthen teacher training; community leaders to identify local needs; technology professionals to develop tools that expand access and improve educational management; and donors, foundations and institutions to invest not only in schools, but in teachers, systems and institutions capable of delivering lasting results.

The first step is to come together, identify needs, coordinate resources and commit to measurable goals for improving educational opportunity across Haiti. Education is not what comes after security. It is one of the foundations on which security must be built.

Maryse Penette-Kedar is board chair of the Prodev Foundation. Blaise Francois Aridou is CEO of the Prodev Foundation.