Education Policy, Business and Technology

Re-Opening Puerto Rico's Schools Takes a Back Seat to Island's Basic Needs

Education Week: A week after Hurricane Maria, the strongest storm to hit Puerto Rico in decades, there’s less immediate concern about when schools will reopen and more about when children and families will have access to food, running water, and power.

“On the island, there are 700,000 children and this is now a week that they have been without power, food, running water, access to telephones—in really scorching temperatures,” said Negin Janati of the aid group Save the Children, which has started setting up “child friendly” centers for child care and children’s supplies in San Juan. There is so little fuel, she said, that the team in San Juan has not been able to reach much beyond the city limits.

In fact, parts of Puerto Rico have been without power since Hurricane Irma sideswiped the island three weeks ago. “The situation is really dire. It is very bad on the ground.”

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