South Sudan Education at Crossroads: Historical Panoramas

By Joseph ?Data Archippus

Oct 7, 2005 — Since time immemorial, the education system in South Sudan has been far different from the education system in the north. South Sudan has never been part of the whole Sudan in the people’s psychological mind. Christian missionaries have mainly undertaken education in south Sudan. The establishment of a church in the South always went hand in hand with the opening of a school usually on the same premises. In most cases, the church leader is the caretaker, watch-person or councillor of the school. In all schools that are dotted all over south Sudan, there stands a church building and the congregation of the church immediately becomes the leading role players in the schools organisation and day to day affairs. This is contrary to educational institutions established in north Sudan, which are mainly close to a mosque and run by the Muslim leaders of the area.

The north, dominated by the Arab Muslims, allowed the Christian missionaries to enter the pagan (non-Christian, non-Muslim, or non-Jew, especially a worshiper of a polytheistic religion) south in the view that their role would be that of civilising agents rather than of introducing their Christian religion. The Christian missionaries where therefore expected to play the part of socialising and educating the people. However, the Christian missionaries made proselytism their major objective while not forgetting their role to educate the people. The Christian missionaries could not help watching with alarm the growing power of Islam among the pagans. To beat this rapid expansion of Islam, the Christian missionaries had to co-operate with the British administrators who introduced the so-called Southern Policy. The British Administrators took the first step by increasing the budget requirements for education in form of aid to the missionaries. With increased government grants in aid of education, the number of schools increased tremendously between 1927 and 1938.

The British Administration has ever since treated the south as a separate region. The Southern policy of the British Administration detached the south from any influence from the rest of Sudan. The administration introduced what was called ?closed door’ ordinance. This law bars all northern Sudanese from entering or working in south Sudan. The authorities gradually replaced all northern Sudanese administrators and expelled all Arab merchants and encouraged the southerners to take part in the economic development of their region. Missionary activities were also encouraged so that the people of the south would al embrace Christianity as their sole religion without the influence of Islam. It was in 1930 when a directive was issued that all the black people of the southern provinces (Bahr el Ghazal, Equatoria and Upper Nile) were to be considered a people distinct from northern Muslims and the region should be prepared for eventual integration with British East Africa.

The British Administration separation policy was implemented in all areas such as administration, economy, religion, socialisation, culture, language, etc. The administration focused on developing local languages as well as English in primary and secondary schools. English became the official language of administration in the southern part of Sudan. The southern provinces were closed to the northern Sudanese, except those who have special permits. The British Administration created a separate military Corp in the south called the Equatoria Corps, which consisted of Christian Southerners and British. This is a defence mechanism against the nationalist northerners in case of Arab rebellion. The south was, to be specific, separate and independent from the north.

The Graduate’s Congress, founded in 1938, was critical of the educational policy in the south and demanded the removal of restrictions on northern traders, the expansion of educational facilities in the south, and the unification of the system of education in the whole country. In its Memorandum of 1942, the Graduate’s Congress, demanded the cancellation of grants-in aid to missionary schools and the unification of the education syllabuses in the north and the south.

The integration policy that came in the late 1940s is a surprise to many south Sudanese. The policy aimed at peacefully transforming the south towards a united Sudan. The British Administration organised two conferences, the Sudan Administration Conference, 1946, and the Juba Conference, 1947. It was in these two conferences that the unity of Sudan was decided. Although southern Sudanese where not represented in the Sudan Administration Conference, the decision for uniting Sudan was taken there. The Juba Conference was just held to black mail the southern politicians. The British Civil Secretary, Sir James Robertson, worked hard to convince the southern people into accepting a decision that no sooner than later backfired into a ball of civil war. The British people were aware that the people of the south were not at par with those from the north. The northern people had got more education and had developed an elite group. They could handle political issues with maturity. Pushing the people of the south to work together with the northern people was like forcing the southern people into a toxic gas chamber. The people of the south demanded for the expansion of education among southerners (it is to be noted that until that time (1947) there only existed a one-year-old high school, Rumbek Secondary School) as part of conditions for integration. It became clear to the British Administration that both sides where suspicious of each other. The north suspected the south of separating and the south suspected the north of domination. The southerners had no problem with unity, but wanted more time for education. They also wanted a separate advisory council in the south so that they could learn independently before joining the legislative council in the north.

After the Juba Conference, the British Administration put Sudan on a fast tract to independence. The demands made by the southerners were watered down to the formation of local government and establishing a legislative body for the whole Sudan, the south had a few representatives. Another event that took place during that period was the conference in Egypt, where south Sudan was not represented, that decided on the future of Sudan. Most decisions were being made without the knowledge of the southern representatives. The Condominium Government exploited the people of the south for their own interests. With the introduction of self-governing Act of 1952, 1954 was that year of Sudanisation. Of the 800 new jobs left by the British and Egyptians, only 6 where given to the south Sudanese. This led to political unrest spreading in the South. Demonstrations ended in killings, and Khartoum sent in soldiers to calm the situation. This was interpreted as an invasion, and resulted in a mutiny by the Equatoria-Corps based in Torit on 18th August 1955. The mutiny marks the beginning of the first civil war in Sudan.

After the Juba Conference, local administrators in southern Sudan, for their part, began to regard any Arabic or Islamic influences in their areas as a threat to the political and cultural integrity of southern people. It was very clear from the Rajaf Language Conference of April 1928 that Arabic was not going to be taught in south Sudan. Despite all these efforts, the south saw little growth in teacher training or in school enrolments. The problem was attributed to lack of personnel. There was an increasing awareness that the Southern Policy had failed in its major objectives, which had been to develop the economy of the south in isolation from the north and to prepare it politically for independence. It was clear that failure to educate the people was the leading obstacle to the people’s ability to empower themselves. That is a good lesson to learn from. All the people in the south started dancing to the tune of the northern music.

The suspicion of northern domination became a reality. Power became centralised in Khartoum by the Muslim north Arabs. As the civil war raged like wild fire in the south, education was completely forgotten and the Arabs started their plans of Arabisation and Islamisation in south Sudan. The Arabs made such an effort that the region did not possess a pool of educated political leadership or the level of economic development that would inoculate it against Northern hegemony. Mission schools where brought under government control in 1957. This disabled the missionaries’ objectives. Due to continuous south flow of the northern Arabs, Arabic was once more introduced and became the major language of communication. This throw into crisis the future and relevance of the Christian missionary education in English. Therefore, the period between 1945 and 1960s was the time when the south became completely dominated by the Arabs. The Military Regime of General Aboud (1958-64) set out to promote Islamic schools and a number of Arabic speaking northerners were sent to the South as teachers for this specific purpose. In the 1962 this policy was further promoted when the missionaries were expelled. This happened at a time when missionary education in the north was being encouraged. One aspect of education already referred to which failed to take off in the south was a voluntary movement in education similar to that of the north. The reason was that the factors, which assisted the movement to grow in the north, were until then absent in the south.

Looking at all the political changes that has been taking place in Sudan since 1920, education has been used as a strategic security tool by those actively involved in the decision making process. From independence in 1956 to the present government, the regimes have made educational changes or ignored education for the fear that the south may breed a highly intellectual élite that may pose a threat to the north. The ball has been thrown to the hands of southern Sudanese. It is the duty of the current government of South Sudan (GoSS) to take this opportunity to utilise this window of opportunity to its capacity. The GoSS has to address the question of education very urgently. Open up Higher Institution of learning to produce a high class of professional teachers who understand the social, political, economic and cultural situation of South Sudan. The GoSS should make teaching an attractive profession and create satisfactory working conditions for all present day and aspiring teachers. In the next six years, the GoSS should invest heavily on education and create a world class education system whose products can be exported to other countries.

* Joseph ?Data Archippus, a Sudanese 4th year Bachelor of education student at North West University, Potchefsroom Campus, South Africa. Email: [email protected]