Journal of Civil Society, Social Movements & Education (SME)

This inaugural issue of Civil Society, Social Movements and Education examines how Haiti’s educational challenges are deeply intertwined with broader social vulnerabilities, institutional fragility, and the evolving role of civil society. The collected articles frame schooling not only as a site of learning, but also as a space where social conflict, inequality, protection, and public action converge.

A first set of contributions focuses on school continuity and academic achievement. The study of teacher strikes in Jacmel (2018–2023) shows how prolonged disruptions weaken learning processes and are associated with repeated patterns of failure in national examinations. Complementing this, the article on educational management for students in vulnerable situations highlights how internal school governance—staff involvement in decision-making, ongoing training, motivation, overcrowded classrooms, and inadequate compensation—shapes learning conditions and student success.

A second axis addresses child protection and rights, through an empirical investigation of children in street situations in Port-au-Prince. Field interviews point to the structural roots of the phenomenon—poverty, peripheral slums, fragile family arrangements—and reveal the limits of Haiti’s broader social protection system. The issue thus expands the education debate toward a larger question: how public policy and civil society can jointly build effective support systems for at-risk children.

A third axis explores the material and pedagogical foundations of inclusive schooling. The discussion of school infrastructure and disability—particularly in the Great South—positions accessibility, equipment, maintenance, sanitation facilities, and school furniture as core determinants of educational quality and equal opportunity. Similarly, the study on teaching philosophy in secondary schools questions the adequacy of current didactic practices in the context of competency-based education, advocating approaches that genuinely foster critical thinking.

Finally, the issue offers a sociological lens on childhood through the article on children’s games under political violence: spontaneous play becomes a mirror of conflicts, abuse, and inequality, providing empirical insight into socialization, resilience, and collective representations.

Overall, the issue advances a central message: academic success in Haiti cannot be addressed without simultaneously engaging children’s rights, school governance, infrastructure, teaching practices, and the collective capacity—State, communities, and civil society—to protect and support the most vulnerable.