Sur le chemin de l’école: scorci d’infanzia sui passi dei bambini in luoghi remoti e urbani del mondo

Abstract

The 2013 Pascal Plisson’s documentary film Sur le chemin de l’école is here the subject of a pedagogical reflection. It is about the twist of four stories set in remote places in Kenya, Morocco, Argentina, India, and having as main characters children associated by their desire to attend school. A strong motivation drives them to deal with incredible itineraries, full of obstacles and hazards, difficulties and strains. Inevitable and appropriate is the comparison between life conditions in which the access/right to education is challenging and others in which even though school attendance is completely guaranteed, it often causes impatience and indifference, due to a variety of reasons. Very different, but not depreciable, are the risks that the growth process encounters in deeply urbanised contexts, where, in order to eliminate the aspect of risk, fundamental experiences of initiative, autonomy, responsibility, mutual support, spontaneity of environmental exploration and human relations are de facto limited. The glimpses of childhood in rhythm with the children’s footsteps displayed in the film narration induce in particular to linger on our cities from which the walking of children, by themselves or with friends, has virtually disappeared: an index of life’s quality and sustainability, that is also an incomparable vehicle of formation.