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BENIN / EDUCATION
STORY: BENIN/ EDUCATION
TRT: 5.47
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH/ BATANU/ NATS
DATELINE: JUNE, JULY 2010, SINENDE, BENIN
JUNE 2010, SINENDE, BENIN
1. Pan right, farmers selling produce by the side of the road
2. Pan left, from boy chopping wood to tent
JULY 2010, BENIN
3. Zoom out, flooded area
JUNE 2010, SINENDE, BENIN
4. Pan right, children in open air school
5. Med shot, school children
6. Wide shot, Mamatou and Gnansi walking
7. SOUNDBITE (Batanu) Gnansi Orou Yo, Farmer:
“I’ve never set foot in a school. My parents were farmers and I’m a farmer.”
8. Zoom out, Mamatou and Gnansi and their children
9. Various shots, children playing in UNICEF sponsored playground
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Bertin Davinde, Chief of UNICEF Parakou, Benin Office:
“Before the commencement of this UNICEF-supported program, the education system in Benin was in a poor state. In addition to low access of schooling for children, three other issues affected the state of Benin’s educational system. First, the enrolment of children into schools was very low. Second, the rate of children completing primary school was low. And thirdly, there was a large gender gap in enrolment. Many more boys than girls were being sent to school.”
11. Wide shot, women and children cooking outside tent
12. Close up, women and children
13. Med shot, children playing football
14. Wide shot, street scene
15. Med shot, child seating on the ground
16. Wide shot, women and children
17. Med shot, child washing hands
18. Various shots, boys and girls singing in school
19. Various shots, children playing in school
20. Various shots, women preparing food
21. SOUNDBITE (Batanu) Mamatou Nee Wassgui Orou Yo, Mother:
“I do feel empowered participating in this program because the profits I get from it help me do some household expenses, give some allowance to my children and help me with financial organization.”
22. Wide shot, children in playground
23. SOUNDBITE (French) Bertin Davinde, Chief of UNICEF Parakou, Benin Office:
“Very Importantly, with this kindergarten, even the older children (adolescent girls), who are normally responsible for the day care of children when their mothers are busy, are freed from their household responsibilities and can continue their own education.”
24. Wide shot, group of children
25. SOUNDBITE (French) Gervais Havyarimana, Chief of Education, UNICEF Benin:
“The educational programme is indeed a programme aimed to achieve educational equality, gender equality in particular, equality to address the Benin’s education system, where there was and there is still an important gap between boys and girls and to provide them plenty of chances to be able to have access to school.”
26. Wide shot, school latrines
27. Various shots, children in class
28. SOUNDBITE (Batanu) Mamatou Nee Wassgui Orou Yo, Mother:
“The kindergarten program is very positive for me. It’s helped me find a place to keep my children, do my housework, go to the farm and participate in income generating activities. More importantly, it’s helping prepare my children for primary school.”
29. Zoom out, children standing in line
30. SOUNDBITE (Batanu) Gnansi Orou Yo, Farmer:
“Since we didn’t have a chance to go to school ourselves, we think it’s important to send our kids to school. We think it’s important to start in kindergarten so when they get to primary school it will be easier for them.”
31. Wide shot, family walking out of their home
Nearly half the people in Benin live on less than $1.25 a day. For Mamatou Nee Wassgui Orou Yo and her husband, Gnansi, going to school was never an option.
SOUNDBITE (Batanu) Gnansi Orou Yo, Farmer:
“I’ve never set foot in a school. My parents were farmers and I’m a farmer.”
But today, the Orou Yos see an opportunity for more for their children. UNICEF and the Government of Benin have created community kindergartens in remote areas like Sinende so that children like four-year-old Wahi Wrou Wo have a strong foundation going into primary school.
SOUNDBITE (French) Bertin Davinde, Chief of UNICEF Parakou, Benin Office:
“Before the commencement of this UNICEF-supported program, the education system in Benin was in a poor state. In addition to low access of schooling for children, three other issues affected the state of Benin’s educational system. First, the enrolment of children into schools was very low. Second, the rate of children completing primary school was low. And thirdly, there was a large gender gap in enrolment. Many more boys than girls were being sent to school.”
Children make up approximately fifty percent of the population in Benin, one-fifth of whom are under five-years-old. Without proper safeguards and schooling, it leaves them extremely vulnerable to the perils of the streets, such as forced labour and trafficking. Recent statistics reveal that over 40 percent of children ages five to fourteen are working and not attending school.
Through this program, children are being given the opportunity to sing, play, develop their identities and hone early childhood development skills in child-friendly spaces, an environment that provides every boy and girl the deserved right to childhood experiences where they can develop to their full potential physically and mentally.
An extension of this initiative also enables mothers like Mamatou with income-generating activities such as making shea butter and food items to pay for their children’s teacher’s salaries and contribute to their household finances.
SOUNDBITE (Batanu) Mamatou Nee Wassgui Orou Yo, Mother:
“I do feel empowered participating in this program because the profits I get from it help me do some household expenses, give some allowance to my children and help me with financial organization.”
SOUNDBITE (French) Bertin Davinde, Chief of UNICEF Parakou, Benin Office:
“Additionally, with this kindergarten, even the older children (adolescent girls), who are normally responsible for the day care of children when their mothers are busy, are freed from their household responsibilities and can continue their own education.”
Today there are over 200 community kindergartens in Benin, and while sizable results have been achieved, more work still needs to be done to reach the hardest to reach children, not only enrol them in school but ensure that they stay in school and improve the quality of their education.
SOUNDBITE (French) Gervais Havyarimana, Chief of Education, UNICEF Benin:
“The educational programme is indeed a programme aimed to achieve educational equality, gender equality in particular, equality to address the Benin’s education system, where there was and there is still an important gap between boys and girls and to provide them plenty of chances to be able to have access to school.”
In addition to helping mothers, UNICEF is providing more training for teachers and has already built latrines and supplied equipment, furniture, and learning tools for the students and teachers.
SOUNDBITE (Batanu) Mamatou Nee Wassgui Orou Yo, Mother:
“The kindergarten program is very positive for me. It’s helped me find a place to keep my children, do my housework, go to the farm and participate in income generating activities. More importantly, it’s helping prepare my children for primary school.”
Through initiatives like this in difficult to reach communities like Sinende, Benin may well be on track to achieving Millennium Development Goal number two: ensuring that all boys and girls complete primary school by 2015.
SOUNDBITE (Batanu) Gnansi Orou Yo, Farmer:
“Since we didn’t have a chance to go to school ourselves, we think it’s important to send our kids to school. We think it’s important to start in kindergarten so when they get to primary school it will be easier for them.”
Mamatou and Gnansi see their children’s education as a guarantee for a brighter future and hope to see Wahi complete primary school and further his education with a particular goal in mind, to be the first person to graduate from university in their family.
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