School Videos - The Documentary Network

School for a Dollar

Documentary.net staff — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 17:52:14 +0000

For many in Nepal, a good education remains an unattainable luxury. And despite a rapid expansion of education facilities in recent decades, adult literacy is still less than 50 per cent. Nepal has over seven million students enrolled in primary and secondary school education, but only one in four children reach the 10th grade. Despite spending 17 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) on education, government school facilities in Nepal are poor and dropout numbers are high, especially among girls. One third of the country's population live below the poverty line and private schools are unaffordable for most, while public schools make do with insufficient facilities, insufficient teacher training and broken down buildings. Widespread corruption and politicisation of the education sector is blamed. Teacher appointments are made by political parties, funds are mismanaged by district education officers and numerous political groups hold education to ransom by staging strikes which regularly force the closure of schools across the country. But one man is leading a mission to wipe out illiteracy in Nepal with low cost private education. Uttam Sanjel gave up aspirations to be a Bollywood actor in order to devote his life to children's education. In 2001, he started the Samata Shiksha Niketan Schools in Kathmandu. The name means 'education for all'. Made from bamboo collected from the local community, the schools are basic but cost just 100 Nepali Rupees ($1.35) per student each month. Today, Sanjel's schools make up Nepal's largest chain of non-public educational institutions, with over 25,000 students from nursery to year 12 in 19 schools. He aims to open at least one Samata School in each of the country's 75 districts, supported by donations from local businessmen, expats, diplomats and foreign philanthropic organisations. In 2010, all Samata students who sat the School Leaving Certificate exam passed with over 80 per cent marks. But the Samata School is not without controversy. There are calls for greater transparency over its donors and Sanjel often struggles to pay his teachers, leading to a walk-out at one school in eastern Nepal. Still, Sanjel hopes to close the gap between wealthy and marginalised groups and forge a path to equality through cheap quality educatio

Waiting For Superman

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:59:01 +0000

For a nation that proudly declared it would leave no child behind, America continues to do so at alarming rates. Despite increased spending and politicians promises, our buckling public-education system, once the best in the world, routinely forsakes the education of millions of children. Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim reminds us that education statistics have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily, whose stories make up the engrossing foundation of WAITING FOR SUPERMAN. As he follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth, Guggenheim undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying drop-out factories and academic sinkholes, methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly intractable problems. However, embracing the belief that good teachers make good schools, and ultimately questioning the role of unions in maintaining the status quo, Guggenheim offers hope by exploring innovative approaches taken by education reformers and charter schools that have—in reshaping the culture—refused to leave their students behind.

Nohelia – Fight against Drug Barons, Guerrilla and Political Lawlessness in Colombia

Documentary.net staff — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 10:24:21 +0000

Nohelia draws the life of a school director in a village in the colombian rainforest. School is the antithesis to political lawlessness. In every day life ruled by poverty and political despotism, Nohelia teaches her students in Afrocolombianism. Nohelia: „In order to know where we´re going we have to know where we come from. What do you want to become when you´re grown up? Children: Football player, soldier or drug baron. Subtitles available.