11 Jan 2011

HAITI / EDUCATION

In Haiti, a basic education program is paying school fees for thousands of the country’s elementary students whose parents lost everything in last year’s earthquake. The program is also training new teachers to meet increasing demands. WORLD BANK

Posted at: January 11, 2011 1:30 pm

Duration: 2:37

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: HAITI / EDUCATION 
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
TRT: 2:37
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: NOVEMBER 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI

SHOTLIST:

1. Med shot, school exterior
2. Wide shot, makeshift school exterior
3. Wide shot, Polynice at board in classroom
4. Med shot, girls reciting
7. Wide shot, girls studying, one looking at camera
8. Wide shot, class
9. Wide shot, zoom in teacher from behind, in class and zoom on school supplies
10. Wide shot, male teacher in classroom
11. Wide shot, girls with books at their desks
12. SOUNDBITE (French) Polynice Sardia, First Grade School Teacher:
"It was good because there are children who don't have the financial means but now they can come to school."
13. Med shot, kid climbing up to board, zoom out
14. Wide shot, kid at board
15. Wide shot, from back of classroom full of kids
16. Wide shot, Laine and another student teacher handing out books in classroom
17. SOUNSBITE (French) Watson Laine, Teacher Trainee:
"I noticed that there was a lack of teachers in Haiti and education is important for a country seeking development.  So I said to myself 'I have to become a teacher.'"
18. Wide shot, trainees in classrooms with small kids
19. Close up, trainer with trainee in classroom
20. Close up, Pierre Cadeau Morose
21. SOUNDBITE (French) Pierre Cadeau Morose, Director of Teacher Formation, IFM de Freres:
"The training is free, but after each session there are tests, and there are those who can continue and those who cannot because we are looking for competence in our teacher trainees. We are looking for quality, not quantity."
22. Close up, Geslene taking notes
23. Med shot, pan from Geslene to teacher at board in classroom
24. SOUNDBITE (French) Geslene Paul, Teacher Trainee:
"The training has truly helped me because I hardly knew anything about teaching children before."
25. Wide shot, classroom and teacher at board
26. Close up, students standing and looking at camera

STORYLINE:

Polynice Sardia, a first grade teacher at this private school in Port au Prince, Haiti, says the earthquake that destroyed her school still haunts her.

Fortunately, she says, it hit when none of her pupils were in class, and this makeshift school was soon rebuilt. But many of Polynice's students had stopped coming:  their parents had lost everything and could no longer afford to send them.

What is comforting to her, she says, is that a year later most of her kids are back, thanks to an education programme that's picked up the tab for their studies and many of their other educational needs, including school supplies and lunches.

The program, Education for All, pays for approximately 180, 000 students aged 6 to 12 in over 1,200 private primary schools across Haiti.

SOUNDBITE (French) Polynice Sardia, First Grade School Teacher:
"It was good because there are children who don't have the financial means but now they can come to school."

The program-backed by the World Bank and donor partners-is improving access and equity of elementary education for poor children and creating partnerships between public and non public sector schools.

Through a related project, hundreds of new teachers, like Watson Laine, are being trained in updated education methods to work in public and private schools across the country.

SOUNDBITE (French) Watson Laine, Teacher Trainee:
"I noticed that there was a lack of teachers in Haiti and education is important for a country seeking development.  So I said to myself 'I have to become a teacher."

The Teacher Training Project aims at increasing the number and capacity of teachers in Haiti's education system through a three-year programme, including two years of practice teaching in classrooms around the country.

SOUNDBITE (French) Pierre Cadeau Morose, Director of Teacher Formation, IFM de Freres:
"The training is free, but after each session there are tests, and there are those who can continue and those who cannot because we are looking for competence in our teacher trainees.  We are looking for quality, not quantity."

Twenty-two year-old teacher trainee Geslene Paul is practice teaching in this private school.  She says working with real teachers has given her the hands-on experience she previously lacked:

SOUNDBITE (French) Geslene Paul, Teacher Trainee:
"The training has truly helped me because I hardly knew anything about teaching children before."

She says she plans to pass her final exams in January, and then wants to teach in public schools where she believes the need is greatest.