Educational challenges in South Sudan

By Rev. Bruno Dada

Sept 23, 2005 — No one for sure can deny the fact that a lot of efforts are needed to develop the manpower capacity so as to improve efficiency and effectiveness in our beloved southern Sudan, this demands that the Government of the Southern Sudan and its partners invest a lot in the education of its citizens, it also asks for all the citizens to be concerned about education.

Garang before his death had declared free universal primary education, to all the children in the south Sudan, for us educators that is good news, that is in line with the world educational forum declaration. (In April 2000, 164 countries participated in the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, and adopted the Dakar Framework for Action to reaffirm their commitment to achieving Education for All (EFA) by the year 2015.)

It is therefore clear that UPE will help to improve access to education which will be seen by the increase in enrolments. but I fore see that there will be a good number of educational challenges.

First of all, the challenge of no enough schools to cater for all the school going age children currently in the Sudan and those expected to repatriate from other countries and would like to get enrolled, the massive increase in pupil numbers immediately will create a problem of classroom space.

The second challenge would be that of the frustration of the many primary school pupils on completion who would like to get vacancies in secondary schools but will not be able to, as the secondary schools will not take all of them.

The third challenge would be the pupil /teacher ratio: Currently there are no prepared teachers to teach in the primary and secondary schools due to lack of teacher training colleges.

An increase in the number of children in school invariably implies an increase in the need for teachers. So while the number of teachers under training in different countries will be growing, it will not be compared to the massive number of children who will be at school soon.

There fore there will be a need of improving the quality and performance of untrained school teachers through courses , to increase the number of trained and qualified school Teachers

The fourth challenge will be that of school materials and equipments that will be needed for the many schools.

There are fears that perhaps the expected massive numbers in schools without commensurate expansion in Physical Facilities, teaching/learning materials may have to compromise the quality of education.

The fifth challenge is how we can eradicate or reduce illiteracy as well as poverty which are diseases that can be fought through educational efforts.

The sixth challenge is the issue of the children whose parents have died in the war and of HIV aids need who need to be educated and cared for.

The other problem seem to be more complex than I can explain, although the new constitution of the Sudan has endorsed children�s right to education, it has not insisted that it should be compulsory for parents to send their children to school, it has also not made clear about the education in the Southern Sudan and Northern i.e. what is going to happen to the 8:4:4: education of the New Sudan and the syllabus, will there be two examination Bodies to handle two systems of the education in the Country ? what will happen to the current pupils who have started with the syllabuses of the neighbouring countries such as Uganda and Kenya? Will people remain with the current system of education or will there be a review of the existing educational policies by conducting a needs assessment in the southern Sudan?

The educational implication of these challenges is that people need to work and plan together to ensure that in all the regions, many primary schools are constructed and equipped, many teacher training colleges and even universities are opened .

There is also a need for curriculum reform or overhaul so that some of the aspects in the existing curriculum that are inclined towards certain religious indoctrination and not religious tolerance or equality be eliminated

We the southern educationists there fore feel that much needs to be done along this line and the masses need enlightenment by those in the field including the NGO�s who support and deal with education.

* Rev. Bruno Dada (Khartoum), Email: [email protected]