13 Aug 2010

GHANA / GIRL'S EDUCATION

UNICEF supported child-friendly schools in rural Ghana are providing equal education opportunites to girls and boys, breaking the cycle of discrimination and early marriage. UNICEF

Posted at: August 13, 2010 3:15 pm

Duration: 03:07

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: GHANA/ GIRL'S EDUCATION
TRT 3:07
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: KWAHA / ENGLISH / NATS
 
DATELINE: DECEMBER 2009, TARIKPAA, GHANA
 
SHOTLIST:
 
1. Med shot, Napari family outside their home
2. Wide shot, Elizabeth with her brother and sister leaving for school
3. Med shot, child playing drum
4. Wide shot, children walking to school
5. Various shots, children singing and marching before school starts
6. Wide shot, children inside classroom
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Biikook Gideon Konlan, UNICEF Ghana Education Officer:
"The parents consider that when you daughter becomes a woman in your home, then the next month she should be married out."
8. Med shot, children marchinf and singing
9. Med shot, Elizabeth inside classroom
10. Wide shot, boys carrying grain on head in field with oxen
11. Wide shot, children playing around truck
12. Wide shot, men sitting outside talking
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Biikook Gideon Konlan, UNICEF Ghana Education Officer:
"Without education you just till the land or you become a labourer down south to work in the cocoa farm or in the mines."
14. Wide shot, teacher writing on blackboard in classroom
15. Med shot, Elizabeth in classroom
16. Wide shot, teacher in classroom
17. Med shot, Elizabeth in classroom
18. Various shots, Elizabeth pulling school books from bag outside her home
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth, student:
"This one is my notebook in English."
20. Various shots, women and children collecting water from well
21. Various shots, Elizabeth pouring water from container on head
22. Various shots, children collecting water from wells
23. Pan left, Elizabeth and best friend Naomi collecting water from school well.
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth's best friend:
"Our teachers taught us to wash our hands before school."
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth:
26. "Because if we didn't wash out hands and go home and eat we would get disease for that."
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Enoch Abukari, Elizabeth's grade school teacher:
"Whatever she learns at school, has effects in the  home and this is for the benefits for the parents and for the other siblings. The child is not just living for today. Every child has a future."
28. Med shot, girl washing feet
29. Pan left, girl riding bike
30. SOUNDBITE (English) Enoch Abukari, Elizabeth's grade school teacher:
"The child is not just living for today. Every child has a future."
31. Med shot, Elizabeth in class spelling words in English
32. Med shot, Elizabeth in class raising hand

STORYLINE: 
 
Elizabeth is the eldest of the four Napari children still at home, a daughter in a culture that traditionally prizes sons. She is the first child to go to school across generations of Naparis.

At this child- friendly school, the emphasis is as much on girls as it is one boys. Traditionally in this village girls get married, not educated.

SOUNDBITE (English) Biikook Gideon Konlan, UNICEF Ghana Education Officer:
"The parents consider that when your daughter becomes a woman in your home, then the next month she should be married out."

Outside the open air classes, village life drifts past. Keeping children in school is a major battle for educators in Ghana. Less than half of the men in this area are educated.

SOUNDBITE (English) Biikook Gideon Konlan, UNICEF Ghana Education Officer:
"Without education you just till the land or you become a labourer down south to work in the cocoa farm or in the mines."

But child-friendly schools are striking at the heart of this problem. One tool in this battle is an attractive and relevant curriculum. Education is free in Ghana but that doesn't mean there aren't heavy costs for families.

SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth, student:
"This one is my notebook in English."

The greatest sacrifice though, may be the loss of the child's labour. Helping ease the amount of daily chores is directly related to freeing kids up for school and fetching water is one of the most intensive shores of all.

Fundamental to this change in village life are the wells UNICEF and other aid organizations have built that dramatically ease the labor required for the most essential of human needs:  water.

UNICEF provides ample clean water through wells. At schools there are two wells for girls and boys.

Elizabeth and her best friend Naomi diligently practice the good hygiene they are learning at school.

SOUNDBITE (English) Naomi, Elizabeth's best friend:
"Our teachers taught us to wash our hands before school."

SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth, student:
"Because if we didn't wash out hands and go home and eat we would get disease for that."

SOUNDBITE (English) Enoch Abukari, Elizabeth's grade school teacher:
"Whatever she learns at school, has effects in the  home and this is for the benefits for the parents and for the other siblings. The child is not just living for today. Every child has a future."

Elizabeth's determined face answering a question correctly in her sixth grade class is the visual embodiment of the transformative power of learning to read and write.