South Sudan’s first lady aids over 2,000 school children

March 14, 2018 (JUBA) – The first lady of South Sudan, Mary Ayen has distributed school bags to children in Akon county of Gogrial state.

“I want to urge the mothers to send their children to school because education is important. During the liberation struggle, many children could get opportunities for education”, Ayen said in a statement.

The first lady also used the occasion to appeal to those who took up arms against the coalition government to seek peaceful means.

“South Sudan is our country all of us. Let’s come together so that children can go back to South Sudan,” further stressed Ayen.

South Sudan reportedly has the world’s highest proportion of young children not getting an education. The civil war has seen millions of people displaced, majorly impacting on education, with 1.8 million, or 70% of school-going age children not getting any education.

The United Nations says years of war makes it difficult for kids in South Sudan to get to school, even in areas not directly affected by fighting.

(ST)