HAITI / BACK TO SCHOOL

UNICEF completes the construction of four new semi-permanent classrooms and provides school kits to almost 2,000 schools across Haiti. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:49
• Production Date: 5 October 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: EDUCATION; EDUCATIONAL POLICY; EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
• Geographic Subject: HAITI
• MAMS Id: U101005f

Description

STORY: HAITI / BACK TO SCHOOL
TRT: 2:49
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 4 OCTOBER 2010, HAITI

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, IDP camp
2. Med shot, mother washes kid
3. Close up, kid being washed
4. Wide shot, mother and girls walking
5. Wide shot, mother and girls walking
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Francoise Gruloos Ackermans, Haiti Representative, UNICEF:
“This is the hope for tomorrow and for the country. We all know that we have to have children in the school this is the future of the country and I am very happy because all the donors and partners bilateral, multilateral we are all together in this battle, because this is a real battle”
7. Wide shot, school exterior with banner
8. Wide shot, press conference
9. Med shot, Francoise Gruloos Ackermans at the podium
10. Med shot, audience
11. SOUNDBITE (French) Joel Desrosiers Jean-Pierre Haitian Minister of Education:
“This 4th of October is officially designated as the back to school day, back to school for those who have already been to school but the objective of the government, the objective of the state this year is not only to bring back to school those who had already been to school, it is to bring all children to school. All our children have to go to school.”
12. Med shot, children sitting on steps
13. Close up, child in audience
14. Med shot, Francoise Gruloos Ackermans talking to a child
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Francoise Gruloos Ackermans, Haiti Representative, UNICEF:
“This time this is the go to school it is a movement. To have not only the children that were going to school before but also the children that never attended school before. So this is the difference between ‘Back to School’ and ‘Go to School’.”
16. Med shot, children in classroom
17. Close up, girl in classroom
18. SOUNDBITE (French) Henriette Moisset, Ecole Celie Lilavois, Headmistress:
“Some of the children have lost their parents, until now there are some parents buried under the rubble and their children come to school, they are traumatized, really, but in school we try to give them hope, to talk to them and to put them in an environment that helps them cope with that burden. It is really hard for these children.”
19. Close up, children
20. Close up, meals handed out
21. Francoise Gruloos Ackermans and Joel Desrosiers Jean-Pierre Haitian Minister of Education hand out school kits
22. Various shots, Joel Desrosiers Jean-Pierre Haitian Minister of Education handing out school kits
23. Close up, school child crying
24. Med shot, child and headmistress talking

Storyline

It’s morning at the Primature refugee camp in port au prince, and for the thousands of residents the daily routine begins as it has every day since last January’s earthquake but for six-year-old Judeline and her cousin Ismerida today marks an important new start – they are going to school for the first time.

SOUNDBITE (English) Francoise Gruloos Ackermans, Haiti Representative, UNICEF:
“This is the hope for tomorrow and for the country. We all know that we have to have children in the school this is the future of the country and I am very happy because all the donors and partners bilateral, multilateral we are all together in this battle, because this is a real battle”

UNICEF together with Haiti’s ministry of education marked the return to school at the reopening of Ecole Celie Lilavois. The school buildings had been destroyed in the quake and UNICEF has just completed the construction of four new semi-permanent classrooms.

SOUNDBITE (French) Joel Desrosiers Jean-Pierre, Minister of Education, Haiti:
“This 4th of October is officially designated as the back to school day, back to school for those who have already been to school but the objective of the government, the objective of the state this year is not only to bring back to school those who had already been to school, it is to bring all children to school. All our children have to go to school.”

Many Haitian children do not go school because of economic hardship, which is why the opening of this school year was marked with a twist to the usual back to school campaign.

SOUNDBITE (English) Francoise Gruloos Ackermans, Haiti Representative, UNICEF:
“This time this is the go to school it is a movement. To have not only the children that were going to school before but also the children that never attended school before. So this is the difference between ‘Back to School’ and ‘Go to School’.”

Getting children into the classroom is more than just about education here.

SOUNDBITE (French) Henriette Moisset, Ecole Celie Lilavois, Headmistress:
“Some of the children have lost their parents, until now there are some parents buried under the rubble and their children come to school, they are traumatized, really, but in school we try to give them hope, to talk to them and to put them in an environment that helps them cope with that burden. It is really hard for these children.”

Providing a safe and nurturing educational environment is a priority. Today the government is providing meals for all students at this school and UNICEF is providing them with school kits part of the of 720,000 school kits, and 15,000 teacher kits that will be distributed by UNICEF to almost 2,000 schools all cross Haiti by the end of year.

As for Judeline, like many children everywhere, her first day at school was at first a bit overwhelming, but she soon grew comfortable with the supportive surroundings.