A positive transformation for the island's long struggling schools might be crippled before it can even start—or never take place at all.
In this collection of videos from Deputy Director of Photography Swikar Patel, see how the people of Puerto Rico are responding to the devastation of Hurricane Maria and working to rebuild their lives — and their schools.
A fraction of the island's schools have opened again in the weeks since Hurricane Maria, while educators work hard to assess storm damage and open those that remain viable.
Though still closed to students, schools in many storm-ravaged parts of Puerto Rico serve as key staging areas for relief efforts, including food preparation and shelter.
Teachers in the coastal city of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, have been cleaning up their high school in hopes of welcoming back students later this month.
From funneling supplies to helping students and teachers get back on their feet emotionally, the island’s 40,000-member union plays a range of roles in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
The renowned chef and restaurant magnate is teaming up with Puerto Rico's education agency to organize school-based cooks around the island.
Odaric Rodriguez Ortega misses his teacher and the classes that may not resume again till late November, even as he worries about those who have been hurt by Hurricane Maria.
School "should be ... where the community can come together and deal with these issues," said the principal of a K-8 school that hosted a read-aloud activity.
Practicing their vowels and arithmetic only goes so far for a pair of brothers making a classroom their home for now in the wake of Hurricane Maria.