VISUAL TEACHERS

Our DokuLab team in February continued regular sessions of Film Guide development to enrich the Teacher’s Digital Library. The last session brought together teachers of Civic Education, Sociology, Psychology, Albanian and English language to explore films that address Human Rights, Education, Women Empowerment and Sustainable Development. The session included presentations of two films and the discussion included utilization of media tools, their advantages in the development of the classroom hour and the most practical form of preparation of the film guides for these films to be used in the classroom. The Wall by Nikola Polic, a DokuFest production in 2012 with the support of the European Union in Kosovo, depicts the story of the Kosovo village Rubovce, twenty kilometers south of the capital, Prishtina, where a wall built two decades ago in a small primary school still separates the young Albanian and Serbian students. Teachers agreed that the film deals with one of the most sensitive topics of Kosovar society, namely that of the interstate conflict between the Albanian and Serbian ethnicities, the ongoing psychological warfare and the refusal to lead an integrated life as a society, and to avoid existing prejudices. One of the immediate lessons that were identified where this film could be used was Socio-cultural Diversity among Individuals (Prejudices and Attitudes) in the subject of Psychology. The second film, commissioned from the Danish WHY Foundation tells the story of Rafea, a Jordanian Bedouin mother who is given the opportunity to study at the Barefoot College in India, and become a solar engineer, capable of bringing power to the remotest places. She attends the college’s program, which brings together 27 women from all over the world. They’re all from poor backgrounds, they are mothers and grandmothers and mostly illiterate. For six months, they live on the campus and learn about electrical components and soldering. Solar Mamas shows how learning about electrical components and soldering without being able to read, write, or understand English is the easy part. Harder to negotiate is the pressure from Rafea’s patriarchal, unemployed Bedouin husband who demands that she returns home. This Programme is supported through ‘Network Partners Program’ financed by Prince Claus Fund.