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GAZA / SCHOOL OPENING
STORY: GAZA / SCHOOLS OPENING
TRT: 02:49
SOURCE: UNRWA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2014, GAZA, PALESTINE
1. Med shot, sign on building: UNRWA Abu Tue'ma Prep Co-ed School
2. Wide shot, schoolchildren arriving in UNRWA Abu Tue'ma Prep Co-ed School, close to the eastern border, for the first day of the fall term.
3. Med shot, schoolchildren walking through the gate
4.Med shot, Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA's Commissioner-General, greeting schoolboys in schoolyard
5. Med shot, Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA's Commissioner-General greeting schoolgirls in schoolyard
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nahida Al-Faqawi, Head mistress of UNRWA Abu Tue'ma Prep Co-ed School:
“There was a lot of damage to this school. But within a short period we were able to bring the students back to their desks. As you can see, with the cooperation of everybody, the school was repaired.”
7. Various shots, school children at the opening ceremony
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA's Commissioner-General:
“During the 50 days of the conflict and how much pain and suffering you had to endure as young children, and see you back for the beginning of the school year is something that fills us with hope and expectation.”
9. Wide shot, teacher and children listening to UNRWA's Commissioner-General
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA's Commissioner-General:
“I do want to cease this opportunity to for all of us to join together in honoring the memory of all the young children who lost their lives during this conflict, and those who were injured.”
11. Close up, girl listening to UNRWA's Commissioner-General
SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA's Commissioner-General:
“Today we are here to build a moment of hope, a moment of reassurance, and a moment also looking towards dignity and freedom.”
12. Wide shot, children standing up and applauding UNRWA's Commissioner-General
13. Med shot, children walking up stairs to their classrooms
14. Close up, boy sleeping in class
15. Close up, girl clapping in class
16. Wide shot, UNRWA Prep Co-Ed School in Juhar el-Dik close to Gaza's eastern border with Israel. Grenade holes in wall visible
17. Wide shot, right side of the facade of UNRWA Prep Co-Ed School in Juhar el-Dik with grenade holes more visible.
18. Med shot, facade of UNRWA Prep Co-Ed School in Juhar el-Dik with grenade holes and bullet holes more visible.
19. Close shot, grenade hole in the facade of UNRWA Prep Co-Ed School in Juhar el-Dik
20. Pan to left, damaged classroom
21. Wide shot, play-leaders with children in school yard
22. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Raeda, third-grader:
“In the tent we live in I sit on the mattress and do my homework. I take along my sister. I study with her. My mother reviews the work with her. I do the same with my little brother.”
23. Pan to right, children clapping in schoolyard lead by play-leaders
24. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Raeda, third-grader:
“At six-thirty in the morning I come to school and play with my friends. Then we go to the classroom where we sing and paint.”
25. Med shot, children playing in schoolyard
Nearly 300,000 children went back to UNRWA schools at the start of the school year in Gaza and Syria on Sunday.
In the Gaza Strip, some 240,000 children went back to 252 UNRWA schools. Over 90 school buildings had been used as shelters for displaced people during the recent Gaza violence. UNRWA has employed over 200 counselors to support children, parents and teachers as they transition back to school.
The back-to-school will not be business-as-usual in the coastal enclave. UNRWA is rolling out an innovative three-phase approach and 7,800 UNRWA teachers have been trained to offer new methods of teaching.
After an initial focus on psycho-social support and recreational activities, a transitional phase will focus on active and alternative learning, key skills and concepts. Only at the third stage will UNRWA schools return to the standard curriculum.
The Agency will also continue to use new technologies to offer lessons through UNRWA TV, its satellite channel.
Much of the emergency education response UNRWA is applying in Gaza has been developed during the three-and-a-half-year conflict in Syria, where some 50,000 students returned to school today.
Following the damage or destruction of dozens of UNRWA schools, the Agency has adopted a range of innovative measures to ensure the right to education is protected. This includes establishing schools in alternative facilities in safer areas, serving over 22,000 students; developing distance learning materials for students unable to access school; and deploying psycho-social counselors to school premises.
The new school year in Gaza was scheduled to start on 24 August 2014, but it was postponed to 14 September.
The average seven year old from Gaza has never left the coastal enclave due to the blockade in place since 2007, and has witnessed three major military escalations.
UNRWA's Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl visited Gaza schools for the start of the school year.
He told the children in UNRWA's Preparatory Co-Ed School in Abu Tue'ma near the eastern border to Israel, that it was “fantastic” to see them in the classrooms after the suffering they had to endure due to the recent conflict in Gaza.
Krahenbuhl said that “as we remember what the population of Gaza has gone through during the 50 days of the conflict and how much pain and suffering you had to endure as young children, to see you back for the beginning of the school year is something that fills us with hope and expectation.”
He encouraged school children and UNRWA staff to honor the memory of all the young children who lost their lives during this conflict, and those who were injured.
UNRWA’s Commissioner-General said that “today we are here to build a moment of hope, a moment of reassurance, and a moment also looking towards dignity and freedom.”
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