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STORY: LEBANON / TENT SCHOOLS
TRT: 3:28
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC /NATS
DATELINE: 27 OCTOBER 2015, BEKAA VALLEY, LEBANON
1. Wide shot, pupils queuing outside school
2. Close-up, girl singing alphabet
3. Med shot, children singing waiting to get into class
4. Med shot, teacher letting students into class
5. Med shot, children taking their shoes off as they get in
6. Wide shot, pupils getting into class
7. Close-up, pupils walking into tent
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima, Syrian refugee:
“I was a teacher in Syria. We had to come here because of the bombing, I was scared for my children and even for my husband from checkpoints and arrests. I came here with my qualification but I couldn’t get a job here.”
9. Close-up, pupil learning to write the number one
10. Close-up, teacher Fatima showing children how to write ‘1’
11. Wide shot, children following teacher’s hand gestures
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima, Syrian refugee:
“I started to think about the fate of these children, they are all going to be illiterate, from 8, to 12, 13 years old none of them know numbers or letters. Some parents asked me to teach. They said open a class and we will support you.”
13. Wide shot, Fatima teaching in class
14. Close-up, young girl in class
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima, Syrian refugee:
“I started two shifts. In the first month I had 45 children, I would teach two hours in the morning, two in the afternoon, around 20 in each shift. I teach three subjects; Arabic, English and Maths.”
16. Med shot, Fatima giving pen to one pupil to write on board
17. Med shot, Children singing in class
18. Wide shot, Fatima singing with the children
19. Wide shot, children leaving classroom at the end of the class
20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sirine, Syrian refugee:
“We like to study and learn. We want to study so we can read when we grow up.”
21. Med shot, children sitting down outside classroom
22. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Safa, Syrian refugee:
“I came to write, (why do you like writing?) It’s better, so I can learn.”
23. Med shot, children playing with Fatima, sitting around her
24. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima, Syrian refugee:
“I consider that I have succeeded. Thank God. I started teaching children who knew nothing. Now they count, write, they read in English. Many of their parents are illiterate.”
25. Wide shot, Fatima in her kitchen tidying up
26. Close-up, Fatima tidying up the bed
27. Wide shot, Fatima tidying up the bedroom, her daughter next to her, turns on fairy lights
28. Close-up, fairy lights
With 400,000 school-age Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, only around half can find space in classrooms. Seeking to step into the gap and provide children with an education, Syrian refugee and former teacher Fatima has transformed her tent into a school.
Eager to learn, these pupils sing the alphabet as they queue to get into class.
But this is no ordinary school.
The classroom is a tent in the settlement. The teacher is the tent’s resident. It’s an alternative school for Syrian refugee children.
Fatima, a Syrian refugee said, “I was a teacher in Syria. We had to come here because of the bombing. I was scared for my children and even for my husband from checkpoints and arrests. I came here with my qualification but I couldn’t get a job here.”
Local public schools can accommodate only half of the 400,000 school-age Syrian refugee children. Fatima couldn’t sit and watch the other half slide into illiteracy.
She said, “I started to think about the fate of these children. They are all going to be illiterate. From 8, to 12, 13 years old, none of them know numbers or letters. Some parents asked me to teach. They said open a class and we will support you.” That’s when she decided to teach in her tent.
Fatima explained that she “started two shifts. In the first month I had 45 children. I would teach two hours in the morning, two in the afternoon, around 20 in each shift. I teach three subjects; Arabic, English and Math.”
Fatima has no books or stationary to use in her class. She has a whiteboard, songs and her imagination. Despite the limited resources, the children don’t miss a class.
Sirine, a Syrian refugee and one of Fatima’s students said, “We like to study and learn. We want to study so we can read when we grow up.” Safa is also a Syrian refugee and a student. She said, “I came to write, (why do you like writing?) It’s better, so I can learn.”
Fatima is proud of her work and her pupils. She said, “I consider that I have succeeded. Thank God. I started teaching children who knew nothing. Now they count, write, they read in English. Many of their parents are illiterate.”
Aid agencies are not able to open additional schools for Syrian children so Fatima’s efforts fit a need.
Seeing the difference she makes, Fatima feels some hope, something to grasp on in these uncertain and difficult times.
