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The Peace Diaries Radio Program was broadcast during the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 26 through September 4, 2002. It was broadcast to Africa, Middle East and Europe. |
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SHOW 9: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EDUCATION |
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SCRIPT, SHOW 9 00:01 – 01:01 Show opening, kids’ quotes, music, Donny quote 01:02 – 01:34 (Narrated introduction, Tessa van Staden) It takes a whole village to raise a child, according to an often-quoted Yoruba proverb in Nigeria. Appropriately, much of the last week’s events at the World Summit on Sustainable Development have focused on the importance of education and knowledge-exchange. In some regions, like the west coast of South Africa, teachers don’t have classrooms. According to teacher Donny, 20 primary school pupils and four teachers took shovels and spades and build their own future… 01:35 – 02:43 (Donny, Jury Hayes Middle school Teacher, Western Cape, South Africa) Our approach is simple; we start doing things on our own, at first. We move up to a point where we can no longer continue & then we go out to the private sector and ask for help, and they are quite keen in helping us simply because they see that we are prepared to give 50% and they will give the rest. That’s our approach in developing; that’s also the policy for the school; the buildings and trying to get sponsors. But first we had to start by trying to do things on our own. The teachers themselves, they put on the gloves and they started working. Those three classrooms that you see over there – we built them ourselves. It took us a month, almost two months. We were four teachers and 20 kids and two parents that built those three classrooms, all by ourselves. Nobody helped us. Then we went out to the private sector and asked for bricks and a few stones here, a little bit of sand there and that’s how we finished it off. 02:44 – 02:49 (Narration, TvS) An enthusiast at heart, teacher Donny says he believes in teaching children to act… 02:50 – 03:55 (Donny ctd.) Nothing will come to you if you don’t create opportunities for yourself, and after creating these opportunities you will certainly see that it will motivate you; and that will lead to more projects and more things that will come your way. I just feel that the South African society has been, well, a lot of them got used to the idea of everything – since the new government came – we must receive everything. We’ve got a new government and we have been neglected all the years; now everything must come our way and it didn’t happen that way. Since then we’ve discovered that it’s not going to work that way & that’s the reason why we started working all by ourselves. We’re just trying to pass that onto our kids, because they are the future. 03:56 – 04:03 (Narration, TvS) Principal of the same school, Mr. Pick, says the relationship between pupils and teachers affects the learning environment. 04:04 – 04:17 (Mr. Pick, Principle of Jury Hayes Middle School, Western Cape, South Aftrica I always tell the kids that we’re a family here – here we are a family and we love one another, work together, perform together and I think that is the bottom line. 04:18 – 04:24 (Narration, TvS) Pick ads that the school’s popularity and good name is well earned. 04:25 – 05:48 (Pick ctd.) We started building our school’s name by doing good work, hard work, performing on the sports field, athletics and everything, and as the school became known in the community, people started realizing they would rather send their kids to this school, and that’s how the school expanded and expanded ‘till we got grade 8, then after that we got grade 9, so now the school is from pre-primary to grade 9. Due to the fact that I’ve got a committed staff – dedicated, hard-working – they’ll always go an extra mile for the school. We are one of the schools with the most sporting code – we’ve got athletics, we’ve got cricket, we’ve got rugby, we’ve got netball, chess, we’ve got volleyball, cross country, we’ve got a hiking club and it’s all functional; it’s working. (Children singing fades in under last of Pick’s words) 05:49 – 06:45 (Children singing) "Hooossaaaaaannnnaaaaa in Excelsis, Excelsis Deo……" 06:31 – 06:58 (Pick speaking over kids’ singing faded out underneath) We would like to see a fully equipped computer lab, where we can take a whole class, so that the global village can be opened up to them so that they can see what’s waiting for them. I think that is our problem. If we can show our kids what’s waiting for them, their vision will widen & they will be more motivated to go for it, to reach for the skies so that they can fly. 06:59 – 07:14 (Narration, TvS) Dedicated teachers often want excellent equipment and interesting subject matter to stimulate and challenge their pupils. Diane Black, principal of Greenfield Primary School in Cape Town, says children need to be taught more than conventional subjects… 07:15 - 07:51 (Diane Black, Principal of Greenfield Primary School, Cape Town, South Africa I have changed my viewpoint greatly over the last couple of years in thinking that we need to teach literacy, we need to teach mathematics, we need to teach LIFE SKILLS. The other subjects matter – you know, Geography, History, Science – I think you can pick them up at age 11 or 12 even, if you’ve never been introduced to Geography or History before, at age 11 or 12 you will absorb a great deal very quickly. But if you haven’t got life skills and the ability to handle your own life, if you haven’t had that put in place by then, then I think you’re going to find life very difficult indeed. 07:52 – 08:02 (Narration, TvS) Principal Diane Black, also a member of South Africa’s national association of girls’ schools, says education needs to focus on the girl child for very specific reasons… 08:03 – 09:10 (Black) Possibly the overriding issue in this country at the moment is AIDS. I think the government has poured a great deal of money, not into the treatment of AIDS – where it needs to be at the moment – it has taken the viewpoint that we need to do it from the educational point of view, so that much of our life skills program is devoted to that. And I think it is essential that we get the message through to women – first of all, that they must be able to say ‘no’, and to know that their bodies are theirs, and that they should not to be swept aside - first of all, violently, secondly by emotion; that they need NOT to lose their heads in the situation because if they are not there to protect the children that they might bring into the world later they’re doing a great disservice to those children. Apart from looking at the economy and what they’re doing to the country, I think on a personal level; they need to know that they are the protectors of the future generation… 09:10 – 09:18 (Narration, TvS) Black ads that teachers are never beyond learning themselves, as a recent program at Greenfield Primary School proved… 09:19 – 10:06 (Black ctd.) We have, at this school, for about 5 yrs run peace education as part of our process. We do have a very good team, who’ve not only trained the children, but have also trained the teachers. I think that has had a huge impact on how we have all dealt with each other; it has certainly made us, as professionals, learn to listen to somebody else. It’s enabled us to become better mediators in classroom situations & also it’s enabled us to empower the children to learn the rules of ‘fighting fair’, if you know what I mean; listening to someone else, knowing that you’re not always right & being able to think about what it is you’re saying – that you’re not going to deliberately hurt someone else. 10:07 – 10:50 (SHOW OUTRO, SPONSORSHIP and WEB SITE MENTION)  |
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