© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1206/Roger LeMoyne
A girl smiles during class in a tent at Celie-Lilavois Primary School in Port-au-Princel. Some 4,700 schools were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake, affecting some 700,000 school-age children. The new school year brings both challenges and opportunities for girls in Haiti.

By Anna Azaryeva

NEW YORK, USA, 13 October 2010 – As schools open for the new academic year in Haiti, the hope is to bring all boys and girls to school, those who attended before the earthquake struck in January 2010, and those hardest to reach, who will go to school for the first time.

© UNICEF video
Children in Jacmel, southern Haiti, play with toys and games supplied by UNICEF to a pre-school run by Lauritas religious order. The school buildings were damaged in January's earthquake.

By Thomas Nybo

JACMEL, Haiti, 6 April 2010 – When the earthquake shook the mountains outside this port city in southern Haiti on 12 January, rural schools throughout the area were destroyed or damaged. Not only were classes cancelled for the short term, but looking ahead, parents were afraid to send their children back into damaged classrooms that they feared might collapse.

© UNICEF Haiti/2010/Bakody
Fraternal twins Jean-Rene and Jean-Raymond Michel, 13, are all smiles after their first day back to school in Jacmel, Haiti.

By Jennifer Bakody, with additional reporting by Jill Van den Brule

JACMEL, Haiti, 5 April 2010 – Almost three months after the massive 12 January earthquake devastated the country, the Haitian Ministry of Education, with the support of UNICEF and its partners, has issued a nationwide call for children to return to school.

©2010 Carlos VasquezVictor and Father Louis, Montagne Jaquot-Merlin, Haiti.

23 Feb 2010 – Victor Vincent Kinyanjui, from Kenya and WASH specialist for UNICEF Sierra Leone, and I set out early in morning to visit a rural school on top of mountain Jaquot-Merlin. The school is run by Father Louis Marrie from France. In order to get there we had to cross a dry river that shows clear signs of bank erosion due to heavy water flow during the rainy season.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0167/NooraniSteve Cherival (left), 8, and Richard Cherival, 5, play with a board puzzle from a UNICEF Early Childhood Development kit at the Lakay Don Bosco Centre, a residential care facility for children in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.

By Roshan Khadivi

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, 17 February 2010 – The first day of school in a UNICEF tent classroom was a happy day for Yolanda Senatus, 9 – and a far cry from the tragic day she had experienced just a month earlier.

“I like to draw, sing and play with my friends. I am so happy today,” said Yolanda, who lost both her home and her school in the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January.

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© Chris Hondros/Getty Images - Boy pours water on his head in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Nearly half the Haitian population are under the age of 18.

By Pi James

NEW YORK, USA, 21 January 2010 – The death toll from the 12 January earthquake in Haiti continues to rise, despite the worldwide humanitarian efforts underway. With nearly half of the Haitian population under the age of 18, children have been significantly affected by this crisis.