Afghanistan, retour à l'école
Benoît Califano
2002 - 51 min - DV Cam - Couleur - France

The first peaceful spring in ages for Afghanistan's people. Three months after the fall of the Taliban regime, the rituals of normal daily life are slowly returning.
Everything has to be rebuilt from scratch : the country, its institutions, its villages, its educational system... Under tents, within the remains of heavily shelled buildings, often on dirt floors and on empty stomachs, a spirited Afghan youth is once more eager for schooling, till now an occupation largely prohibited by the fundamentalist decrees of the Talibans. In an effort to understand how formal education fits into the current list of urgent humanitarian priorities that are shaping Afghanistan's future, the documentary's team interviewed Ministers, aid workers and historians alongside the country's children, parents and teachers. Afghanistan, back to school explores the educational challenges that await a country ravaged by 23 years of upheaval and war. What will the new social fabric be and how can schooling play a role in shaping it ? Can a generation of children that have only known war build a longstanding peace ? In its examination of the country's revived schools, the documentary portrays a society shattered by a quarter of a century of crises.