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SOUTH SUDAN / GRANDI SCHOOL VISIT
STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / GRANDI SCHOOL VISIT
TRT: 3:21
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 27 JANUARY 2021, MAKPANDU REFUGEE CAMP, YAMBIO, SOUTH SUDAN
27 JANUARY 2021, MAKPANDU REFUGEE CAMP, YAMBIO, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide shot, of students in class
2. Med shot, teacher writing on board
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Atovura Chantal, Congolese refugee student:
“I like chemistry because if there is a chance for me to go ahead with my education, I would like to do medicine that is why I like it so much.”
4. Close up, students in class
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Hellen City Justine, South Sudanese student:
“My favourite subject is biology, mathematics, chemistry - actually I have three favourite subjects.”
6. Various shots, student washing hands
7. Various shots, students in class
8. Various shots, Atovura writing on blackboard
9. Various shots, Hellen speaking to UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi in class
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“I was so impressed with the kids with whom I spoke. In spite of the very difficult conditions of this area, they were determined to finish the school and this particular school in Makpandu has an extraordinary record.”
11. Various shots, student writing on blackboard
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Generosity, hosting refugees, keeping borders open, just like South Sudan is doing, is not only good for the people who flee for safety and security, but it creates momentum, it creates opportunities for everybody here.”
13. Med shot, class view from outside through window
14. Various shots, students and teacher in class
15. Med shot, Atovura and Hellen speaking to each other in class
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Atovura Chantal, Congolese refugee student:
“Even they can provide university for some to this place, because as we are here as refugees sometimes we want to go further with our studies.”
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Hellen City Justine, South Sudanese student:
“The number of medical personnel in the country, they are all men and it hurts me a lot so even I want to do it, so that I go to that level.”
18. Wide shot, classroom
19. Close up, Atovura and Hellen in class
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi visited students at a top performing school for refugee and local students in South Sudan and renewed calls for further investment in education for displaced people and communities that host them.
Makpandu Secondary School is one of the best performing schools in South Sudan and the top performer in Western Equatoria state. It was established by UNHCR and partner World Vision South Sudan in 2013, in collaboration with South Sudan’s Ministry of Education, for refugees and host community children.
In 2019, seven refugee students scored among the top 10 in the state but last year, the global COVID-19 pandemic interrupted learning across the country. Schools closed for six months then reopened in September to allow students in their final year of primary and secondary school to return under strict health safety guidelines.
In Makpandu, a camp hosting more than 5,000 refugees mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, students are working hard to catch up and prepare for the final exams.
Atovura Chantal, a Congolese refugee and Hellen City Justine, a student from the local South Sudanese community learn side by side and both have ambitions to study medicine.
The girls are confident that they will do well on their final secondary school exams but are concerned about what will come next as opportunities for higher education are limited in South Sudan. For refugees, it is even harder to pursue higher education. Globally, only 3 percent of refugees have access to university education.
The girls delivered a message to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, asking for more to be done for refugees and host communities to further their studies. Visiting the country to observe the opportunities and challenges of a fragile peace process, Grandi met with government officials, refugees, internally displaced people, host communities and returnees.
South Sudan seceded from Sudan to become the world’s youngest nation in 2011 after decades of war but plunged back into conflict in 2013. More than four million South Sudanese have been displaced across the region and within their own country in one of Africa’s largest displacement crises.
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