South Sudan celebrates Girls’ Education Day

July 8, 2008 (JUBA) — Southern Sudan celebrated its annual Girls’ Education Day in order to acknowledge achievements in girls’ enrollment and galvanize action to close the gender gap in education.

This year celebrations were organized on Monday July 7 in the Lakes State capital of Rumbek where thousands of school children gathered in the town’s Freedom Square.

The event, which was attended by representatives of the Government of Southern Sudan, Ministers of Education from all ten States, United Nations and NGO partners, was presided over by the Governor of Lakes State, H.E. Daniel Awet Akot and the Minister of Education, Science and Technology of the Government of Southern Sudan, H.E. Professor Job Dhoruai.

Before the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, it was estimated that only 14 percent of students enrolled in primary school were girls. In April 2006 the ‘Go to School’ initiative, a major campaign to rebuild the education system and bring 1.6 million children back to the classroom, was launched by the Government of Southern Sudan with UNICEF support.

Significant progress has since been achieved with total enrolment currently at approximately 1.3 million, up sharply from an estimated 343,000 during the war. It is estimated that 34 percent of the children attending primary school today are girls.

However, for every one of the estimated 1.3 million children at School in Southern Sudan today, there is at least one other who is not, and the great majority of those who remain out of school are girls.

UNICEF says it believes that girls’ education is the single most important investment any nation can make and the benefits of educating girls are enormous. For Southern Sudan to quickly reverse the worst effects of its two decade war and to achieve economic growth and reduce infant mortality, a substantial investment in education is essential, especially for girls.

To accelerate girls’ education, this year UNICEF is focussing on a number of concrete actions to support the Government of Southern Sudan, among them the Promotion and Advocacy for Girls Education (PAGE), a programme that uses community-based advocacy groups made up of youth, women and other opinion leaders to influence communities, parents and community leaders and government to support girls’ education.

(ST)