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STORY: ETHIOPIA / SOUTH SUDANESE REFUGEE TEACHER
TRT: 3:16
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 29 AUGUST 2020, GAMBELLA, ETHIOPIA
1.Wide shot, South Sudanese refugee, James Tut flipping through a picture album
2.Close up, portrait OF Tut on wall
3.Med shot, Tut hanging up his coat
4.Close up, Tut’s face
5.SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
”When the war broke out in South Sudan, that time I was in Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa University from 2010 up to 2014.”
6.Wide shot,Tut making his bed
7.Med shot, Tut praying
8.SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
“I had hoped to be employed by my government.”
9.Wide shot, Tut wearing his coat
10. SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
“For my qualification, it is proportional of a bachelor’s degree in Community Development and Leadership.”
11.Wide shot, Tut closes the door of his house
12.Wide shot, Tut walking away from his house
13.Various shots, Tut teaching a class
14.SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
“Here in Ethiopia I have five years as a teacher.”
15.Wide shot, girl writing in book
16.SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
“My work is very interesting because it is time for me to serve my community.”
17.Close up, of girl writing in book
18.Wide shot, Students in class
19.SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
“These children, they are the future of our country, if we return back, then we will develop our country.”
20.Wide shot, refugees in waiting area
21.Medium shot, children
22. Various shots, refugees playing chess
23.SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
“If we are still here as refugees, it is a big challenge and it is our worry.”
24.Various shots, Tut teaching a class then walking out
25.Close up, Tut’s face
26.Various shots, Tut with his children
27.SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
“For my children, because I am educated, I show them all pictures when I am together with my friends when I was in university.”
28.Various shots, Tut showing pictures to his children
29.SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
“I give them the idea of the importance of education. I told them that education is part of your life.”
30.Med shot, Tut with his children
31.SOUNDBITE (English) James Tut, Teacher, South Sudanese refugee:
“The lesson I give them, it is very fruitful to them, which means it may change their lives and I will be an example for them also.”
32.Close up, Tut smiling
Displaced twice, South Sudanese refugee James Tut beat the odds to finish university and now he wants his children and his students to go even further. But access to higher education for refugees is limited – only three percent globally get the opportunity.
For every student, graduating from university is a cause for celebration – but for refugees it is a genuine triumph over the odds. Only three percent of refugees are enrolled in any form of tertiary education, compared to 37 percent globally.
For refugees who have fled conflict in South Sudan, the proportion is even smaller. James Tut had hoped that with a degree in Community Development and Leadership from the University of Addis Ababa, he might find employment with the government of South Sudan. But by the time he had finished his undergraduate studies in 2014, war had intervened, and he found himself becoming a refugee in Ethiopia for a second time.
Nevertheless, a university education has stood him in good stead. For the past few years, James has been vice principal of one of four primary schools in Gambella’s Jewi refugee camp. Smartly dressed and softly spoken, he exudes a calm authority amid the din of boisterous children.
Years of violence in South Sudan have been a disaster for the nation’s children and youth. Two-thirds of all South Sudanese refugees are under the age of 18. Only 69 per cent of them are in primary school across the region, compared to an international average of 91 per cent. It gets worse as they progress to the next academic level, with only 13 percent of South Sudanese refugee children enrolled in secondary education, compared to 84 percent globally.
As a degree holder, James is living proof of what refugees can achieve if given the chance. But as vice principal of a primary school in Gambella, he is all too aware of the problems his 6,000 pupils encounter daily. He also worries for his own children. His greatest fear being that without peace in South Sudan, if they remain in the refugee camp, they would not get the same opportunities to study as he did.
