1. Med shot, children attending class in Malaimahal Ilukku Pothana School.
2. Wide shot, classroom watching boy write on board.
3. Med shot, Sinnathurai Shanthi writes on board.
4. SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Sinnathurai Shanthi, Displaced 11 Year-old Girl:
"When we were displaced, my mother would spend her time collecting firewood, so I would have to look after my brothers and sisters."
5. Wide shot, teacher Thivyathevu conducting class
6. Med shot, Thivyathevu conducting class.
7. Pan right, boy walks to board
8. SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Arulayah Thivyathevu, Teacher:
“These are Fourth Grade students and these are Fifth Grade. I can manage when it is the same subject, but when the subjects are different, that is when it is hard."
9. Close up, damaged building wall
10. Wide shot, damaged houses
11. Wide shot, damaged house.
12. Med shot, camera tilts down to girl in class
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Brenda Haiplik, Chief, Education, UNICEF, Sri Lanka:
"Education plays a key role in bringing the communities of this country back to where they were. It brings peace, it brings stability in communities. Children take messages home so it’s not just education and learning in the classroom. It is hygiene and health information, and protection; knowledge going back to the home environment; and that will change lives.”
14. Med shot, sisters, Dhanushiha, and Dilushana, walking home after class
15. Wide shot, sisters entering temporary shelter they live in together
16. SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Dhanusiha, Displaced 11 Year-old Girl:
"When we come home, we get water and make our lunch, and then start doing our homework."
17. Med shot, Dilushana using kitchen knife
18. Close up, Dilushana using kitchen knife
19. SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Dilushana, Displaced 8 Year-old Girl:
"My sister does everything for me. She washes my clothes, helps with the homework, combs my hair, and helps me wash."
20. Wide shot, school drill team practicing
21. Med shot, school drill team practicing
22. Wide shot, school drill team practicing
23. SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Rasiah Jeevaratnam, School Principal:
"The neighbouring schools and communities used to think we were backward and weak when they heard our school name, but now we have shown them. And the children feel they can do anything."
24. Close up, school drill team practicing
25. Wide shot, school drill team practicing
26. Med shot, parents looking at drill practice.
27. Wide shot, school classroom. Camera pans left.
28. Close up, girl singing.

View moreView less

Storyline

Just a few weeks after being re-settled in this remote part of Eastern Sri Lanka, and with the odds stacked against them, children are getting back into the rhythm of school.

11 year old Shanthi was displaced along with the rest of her community by armed conflict, and has not been in a classroom since 2006.

SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Sinnathurai Shanthi, Displaced 11 Year-old Girl:
"When we were displaced, my mother would spend her time collecting firewood, so I would have to look after my brothers and sisters."

At the far end of this open building, Arulayah Thivyathevu has the almost impossible task of conducting a class of different grades and different levels.

SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Arulayah Thivyathevu, Teacher:
“These are Fourth Grade students and these are Fifth Grade. I can manage when it is the same subject, but when the subjects are different, that is when it is hard."

This school building still bears the scars of war.

Throughout the east and north of Sri Lanka in areas where fighting raged for 25 years, destruction is everywhere.

The commitment of teachers staying with pupils through their displacement, and now helping them re-settle, is seen as vital.

SOUNDBITE (English) Brenda Haiplik, Chief, Education, UNICEF, Sri Lanka:
"Education plays a key role in bringing the communities of this country back to where they were. It brings peace, it brings stability in communities. Children take messages home so it’s not just education and learning in the classroom. It is hygiene and health information, and protection; knowledge going back to the home environment; and that will change lives.”

For sisters, 11 year old Dhanushiha and Dilushana, just 8, school offers stability in an otherwise precarious existence.

Their mother was raped and killed in the conflict, leaving them to fend for themselves, with only limited help from family and neighbours.

Remarkably, with only each other for support, they have learned to cope.

SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Dhanusiha, Displaced 11 Year-old Girl:
"When we come home, we get water and make our lunch, and then start doing our homework."

SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Dilushana, Displaced 8 Year-old Girl:
"My sister does everything for me. She washes my clothes, helps with the homework, combs my hair, and helps me wash."

The pride of this school is its display team, which has been winning competitions at local and national level.

SOUNDBITE (Tamil) Rasiah Jeevaratnam, School Principal:
"The neighbouring schools and communities used to think we were backward and weak when they heard our school name, but now we have shown them. And the children feel they can do anything."

Overcoming extraordinary hurdles, often takes extraordinary efforts on the part of families and communities to support their local schools.