RUSSIA: SCHOOLS OPEN IN BESLAN AT THE START OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR ONE YEAR AFTER THE SCHOOL SIEGE.

Record ID: 584894

  • Title: RUSSIA: SCHOOLS OPEN IN BESLAN AT THE START OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR ONE YEAR AFTER THE SCHOOL SIEGE.
  • Date: 5th September 2005
  • Summary: (W2) BESLAN, NORTH OSSETIA, RUSSIA (SEPTEMBER 5, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WS: OF NEW SCHOOL. 0.06 2. WS: SCHOOL CHILDREN WITH FLOWERS WALKING TOWARDS SCHOOL. 0.16 3. WS: OF SECURITY CHECKING PEOPLE ENTERING SCHOOL PREMISES. 0.23 4. WS: PARENTS AND CHILDREN GOING TO SCHOOL. 0.29 5. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) DIANA AGAYEVA, FORMER HOSTAGE, SAYING "I want to go to school, yes, I do want to go." 0.33 6. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ANGELA GODZAYEVA, DIANA'S GRANDMOTHER, SAYING: "Of course people are afraid of everything now, people are afraid to leave their children at school. But the life goes on and I think everything will be all right." 0.48 7. WS/PAN: OF THE CLASSROOM WITH CHILDREN AND PARENTS INSIDE. 0.58 8. SCU: MAN IN MILITARY UNIFORM SITTING WITH LITTLE BOY ON HIS LAP. 1.02 9. WS: TEACHER ADDRESSING CHILDREN AND PARENTS. 1.08 10. CU: OF CHILDREN INSIDE THE CLASS. (2 SHOTS) 1.19 11. CU: COVER OF THE TEXTBOOK. 1.24 12. WS: GROUP OF SMALL CHILDREN WALKING THROUGH SCHOOL CORRIDOR. 1.34 13. SCU: PEOPLE LOOKING THROUGH LISTS OF PUPILS OF BLACKBOARD. 1.41 14. SCU: SCHOOL HEADMISTRESS TALKING TO TEACHERS. 1.47 15. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALLA KHABLIYEVA, SCHOOL'S HEADMASTER, SAYING: "Children from school N1 come to our school with great pleasure, many children are really happy to study in such a school. I have walked around the school, visited all the classes, lessons are going on well, it seems that everything is fine and we will have children studying here and we will have life and joy around." 2.07 16. WS/SCU: CHILDREN SITTING AT TABLES IN THE CANTEEN. (2 SHOTS) 2.18 17. WS: OF CLASSROOM. 2.23 18. SCU: TWO GIRLS SITTING AT THE DESK, LISTENING TO A TEACHER. 2.29 19. SCU: BOY AND A GIRL STANDING IN THE CORRIDOR. 2.38 20. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALANA MURTAZOVA, A STUDENT AND A FORMER HOSTAGE, SAYING "This school is new and beautiful, but I still miss the old school." 2.46 21. WS/PAN: OF THE NEW SCHOOL'S EXTERIOR. 2.56 22. WS: OF THE OLD SCHOOL NUMBER ONE WITH FLOWERS. 3.00 23. WS: INTERIOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL'S GYM WITH FLOWERS COVERING FLOOR. 3.05 24. CU: PHOTOGRAPHS OF TWO SCHOOL SIEGE VICTIMS ON THE WALL OF GYM. 3.10 25. WS: OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF SCHOOL SIEGE VICTIMS ON WALL OF GYM. 3.16 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th September 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BESLAN, NORTH OSSETIA, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVACTAJDFVVC2ZFHKP384R6WPHEB
  • Story Text: Schools open doors in the southern Russian town of
    Beslan.



    Schools opened their doors in the southern Russian
    town of Beslan on Monday (September 5, 2005), marking the start
    of the academic year in a town that continues to grieve for
    the 331 victims of school siege, more than half of them
    children, last year.

    The opening of schools in Beslan was delayed as the
    town held a three-day commemoration for those who died
    after armed Chechen rebel sympathisers took some 1,000
    people hostage Sept.1, 2004. Two days later the siege ended
    in a bloodbath after a botched attempt by Russian security
    forces to rescue the hostages. Beslan's school number one has been replaced by two brand new complexes, built with the help from the Moscow's mayor's office.

    Children and parents with flowers poured into the new
    school courtyard through security checkpoints. Among them
    former hostages, who didn't attend school during the past
    year.

    "I want to go to school, yes, I do want to go", said
    9-year-old Diana Agayeva, who spent three days in the old
    school's sports hall with more than 1000 other hostages a
    year ago.

    But many who came to the new school had mixed feelings
    of happiness and sadness.

    "This school is new and beautiful, but I still miss the
    old school", said 13-year-old former hostage Alana
    Murtazova.

    Two new schools built in less than a year, look like
    palaces compared to the old and small school number 1.

    Alla Khabliyeva, the headmaster of a new school,
    thinks that studying in a new and beautiful complex will
    help former hostages to recover and to be able to enjoy
    school again.

    "Children from school N1 come to our school with great
    pleasure, many children are really happy to study in such a
    school. I have walked around the school, visited all the
    classes, lessons are going on well, it seems that
    everything is fine and we will have children studying here
    and we will have life and joy around", said Alla Khabliyeva.

    A year after the tragedy, the old school No. 1 has
    been left untouched. The sports hall's blackened rafters
    still stand open to the sky and flowers, memorial notices
    and photographs of the siege victims cover the walls of the
    gym where more than 1,000 hostages sat for three days.

    Almost all the rebels who seized the school
    demanding the end of the ten-year Chechen war and the
    withdrawal of Russian troops from the region, died in the
    bloodbath that followed a botched attempt to free the
    hostages.

    Prosecutors have charged one surviving Chechen with
    terrorism and murder. He is on trial in the town of
    Vladikavkaz.

    Nurpashi Kulayev denies being a terrorist and has said
    he ended up in the school by accident after being kidnapped
    by the rebels.



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