High school students in Haiti protest

HAITI: Hundreds of high school students held demonstrations for the second straight day here Tuesday to demand that their schools be cleared of homeless people so that classes can resume.

A crowd of protesters in high school uniforms hurled rocks at the Education Ministry building, which was destroyed in the quake.

“We demand a resumption of classes,” protestors chanted.

Monday, police used tear gas and fired shots in the air to disperse protesting high school students. Education Minister Joel Desrosier Jean-Pierre on Tuesday appealed for calm.

“We are working to find alternatives to the problems at the high schools that serve as shelters for those left homeless by the quake. We beg the students to avoid violence,” he said.

Tens of thousands of homeless people are still living in tents on the grounds of quake-damaged schools more than three months after the earthquake, which killed an estimated 220,000 people and left another 1.3 million people without homes.

Among the dead were 1,300 teachers and school administrators. Four thousand schools were destroyed in the disaster.

But schools have been slowly reopening since early April with the help of international organizations which have erected canvas covered classrooms for the students.

The school year could be extended until August to make up for the lost classes, an education official said. Port-Au-Prince, Wednesday, AFP