14 Jul 2012

NAMIBIA / DISABLED CHILDREN

Namibia recently launched a five-year National Agenda for Children with special emphasis on children with disabilities, to address situation where as many as half the children with disabilities receive no schooling. UNICEF

Posted at: July 14, 2012 12:02 am

Duration: 02:53

Available in: SD, HD

DOWNLOAD

Full script

STORY: NAMIBIA / DISABLED CHILDREN
TRT:  2.53
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / DAMARA / NATS

DATELINE: 16 JUNE 2012, WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA

SHOTLIST:

1. Various shots, children playing at school 
2. Close up, children in class
3. Wide shot, kid seating outside the class
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Celie Strauss, Principal of Moreson School for Mentally Impaired Children:
"Sometimes learners are born with Down syndrome. Sometimes they are born with CP, apex syndromes. We have also hydrocephalus, microcephalisis, the alcohol syndrome."
5. Med shot, Miss Gerty Orange teaching in class
6. Close up, Miss Gerty Orange's hands showing learners
7. Med shot, learners in the classroom with keyboards
8. Med shot, Tetny in the classroom
9. Wide shot, Miss Gerty Orange and Tetny going to Tetny's place
10. Med shot, Miss Gerty Orange and Tetny arriving at Tetny's place
11. Med shot, Miss Gerty Orange shaking Tetny's grandmother's hand
12. SOUNDBITE (Damara) Evelyn Dabster, Tetny's grandmother:
"It is difficult for me to communicate with her, because sometimes she is very slow for me and sometimes she is too fast so it is hard for me."
13. Various shots, Tetny in class
14. Various, students at school
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Nahas Angula, Prime Minister of Namibia:
"The Namibian child is at risk. The Namibian child is malnourished. The Namibian child is orphaned and the Namibian child is homeless."
16. Various shots, Windhoek city
17. Med shot, children at school
18. Wide shot, children singing at school

STORYLINE:

From a distance these children look like any other children going through their normal school day. Come closer, then you would realize the challenges that they must face every day.

These learners are from three special schools in Windhoek that cater for children with disabilities.

SOUNDBITE (English) Celie Strauss, Principal of Moreson School for Mentally Impaired Children:
"Sometimes learners are born with Down syndrome, sometimes they are born with CP, apex syndromes, we have also hydrocephalus, microcephalisis, the alcohol syndrome."

Miss Gerty Orange is one of the teachers at Morison Special School for Mentally Impaired Children. She teaches puzzles, computers and geography to 15 children with varying forms of disabilities.

As part of her professional terms of reference, she visits all her learners, to brief their families and caregivers and to share the children's progress and problems.

Today she is visiting Tetny at home.

SOUNDBITE (Damara) Evelyn Dabster, Tetny's grandmother:
"It is difficult for me to communicate with her, because sometimes she is very slow for me and sometimes she is too fast so it is hard for me."

Namibia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007. The country also ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Right of the Child, which allows for individual complaints to the Committee on the Right of Persons with Disabilities.

Despite these policies for inclusive education, in reality the majority of Namibian children with disabilities appear to be attending special schools or not accessing education.

A ' disability policy audit' by the Southern African Federation of the Disabled, conducted in 2008, shows that as many as 50 per cent of children with disabilities never attended primary education, especially in rural areas.

Namibia's five-year National Agenda for Children, launched last month with support from UNICEF, puts special emphasis on the need to programme for children with disabilities and ensure that they all benefit from the disability grants.

SOUNDBITE (English) Nahas Angula, Prime Minister of Namibia:
"The Namibian child is at risk. The Namibian child is malnourished. The Namibian child is orphaned and the Namibian child is homeless."

Namibia's sustained economic growth since independence in 1990 has placed the country in the category of upper middle income countries, but this growth has also left it one of the most unequal countries in the world.

But with the launch of the National Agenda for Children and this year's focus on the rights of children with disabilities, the future looks brighter for the most vulnerable children.

Filed under NAMIBIA UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund.