DCA Archive

On the Way to School
(Sur le chemin de l'école)

Pascal Plisson

In some parts of the world, simply getting to school is already an achievement. Following four sets of children, all united in their desire to learn, this documentary shows just what some young learners have to go through to get to their desks.

Jackson (11) and his younger sister have to face wild elephants as they cross the Kenyan savannah. Twice a day Carlito (11) and his little sister must ride 18 kilometres through the Patagonian foothills. Zahira (12) and her friends trek for hours over the trails in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to get to their boarding school each week. Samuel (13) depends on his two brothers to get him and his dilapidated wheelchair the four kilometres along sandy tracks in southern India each day.

Cutting between the four journeys and the tremendous obstacles that each set of children have to face, we see for ourselves the extraordinary commitment to their pursuit of the chance of an education. The powerful impact of the film lies in the strength and commitment of its subjects, whose determination is inspirational – different cultures, different challenges, same goal.