COTE D’IVIORE / CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

In Cote d'Ivoire, only one in two children under the age of 11 attend primary school and less than six percent of children under five are enrolled in early childhood development programmes. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:27
• Production Date: 26 March 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: EDUCATION; TEACHING PERSONNEL; POPULATION
• Geographic Subject: COTE D'IVOIRE
• MAMS Id: U100326d

Description

STORY: COTE D’IVOIRE / CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
TRT: 2.27
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 16 DECEMBER 2009, BONDOUKOU, COTE D’IVOIRE

Shotlist

1. Med shot, boy ringing school bell
2. Wide shot, girls file towards school
3. Med shot, kids sitting on bench in front of the chalk board
4. Med shot, boys writing on slates in class
5. Med shot, young children clapping and singing
6. Med shot, children clapping and singing
7. Close-up, girl reciting poetry
8. Med shot, girl goes to sit amongst other children
9. Med shot, pre-school teaching clapping and singing
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“The programme helps a lot. The mothers come and drop off their children, then they are free to go to the fields. It makes things easier.”
11. Med shot, children sitting on floor
12. Close-up, girl reciting poetry
13. SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“There are no toilets in the centre, and no water. It can be exhausting. When the children have to use the toilet, I have to carry their waste far away, then bring water from my house to wash them.”
14. Med shot, child standing up and walking to front of room
15. Med shot, child dancing
16. Close-up, boy stand in front reciting poetry
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“They would normally stay until the evening, but we don’t have a kitchen. If we had one, we could prepare something for them to eat, and keep them here a bit later, until their mothers get back from the fields.”
18. Wide shot, children running out of classroom
19. Wide shot, children lining up to use the slide
20. Med shot, children’s feet climbing ladder to slide
21. Med shot, children sliding down top of slide
22. Close-up, children sitting to slide
23. SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“The villagers are the ones who organised to pay us. Each parent pays 1,000 francs.
But that isn’t quite enough for the whole year, so the village adds funds to help the parents.”
24. Wide shot, children on jungle gym clapping and singing
25. Med shot, children on jungle gym clapping and singing tilt up
26. SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“Since the centre started, we noticed that it helps kids a lot in primary school. The teachers there tell us that the children who came here do better, they know more, than the children who didn’t come. They learn more quickly.”
27. Med shot, child writing on chalk board

Storyline

Only one out of two children between the ages of 6 and 11 attends primary school In Ivory Coast.

The situation is worse for pre-school with only 5.5 percent of children from 3 to 5 years old attending an early childhood development programme.

UNICEF is working to increase these numbers and strengthen pre-school service provision.

SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“The programme helps a lot. The mothers come and drop off their children, then they are free to go to the fields. It makes things easier.”

For the few centres that exist much needs to be done to provide quality services that include such basic needs as water and sanitation.

SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“There are no toilets in the centre, and no water. It can be exhausting. When the children have to use the toilet, I have to carry their waste far away, then bring water from my house to wash them.”

Teachers face difficulties in maintaining children in the Early Childhood Development programme as they cannot feed the children during the day.

SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“They would normally stay until the evening, but we don’t have a kitchen. If we had one, we could prepare something for them to eat, and keep them here a bit later, until their mothers get back from the fields.”

Overall state funding for education in Ivory Coast has dropped from 35 percent to 25 per cent over the past few years. And very little of the funding is allocated to ECD programmes.

SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“The villagers are the ones who organised to pay us. Each parent pays 1000 francs. But that isn’t quite enough for the whole year, so the village adds funds to help the parents.”

Fortunately for these children, the community has taken their pre-school education into their own hands.

SOUNDBITE (French) Afoua Odette, Pre-school teacher:
“Since the centre started, we noticed that it helps kids a lot in primary school. The teachers there tell us that the children who came here do better; they know more than the children who didn’t come. They learn more quickly.”

UNICEF continues to advocate for increased funding for ECD to see that children get a good start in life and ensure they receive a complete primary education.