Following Through South Sudan’s Declaration of 'War On Illiteracy'

Education, alongside Health, forms an essential sector of EU assistance to South Sudan. With one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, the country bears the shocking statistic that a girl is three times more likely to die in childbirth before the age of 18 than she is to complete secondary education. Minister for Education, Joseph Ukel Abango, EU Head of Delegation to South Sudan, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, and Save the Children’s Country Coordinator for Alternative Education, Mark Chapple share their views on the country’s education situation and the on-going efforts to improve it.

The newest country in the world faces substantial development challenges at every turn, education being no exception. Education indicators for the country are among the worst in the world: less than 2 percent of the population has completed a primary school education, 82% of women and girls are illiterate, as are 76% of men and boys. In some area of the country there are as many as 243 children to one place in school. 

With not enough schools, not enough teachers – many of whom only have a primary education themselves – the situation is further complicated by lack of access, large pastoralist populations who live on the move, social customs and intertribal conflict.

Since the peace agreement was signed with Sudan in 2005, there have been impressive progress in school enrolment rates of around 20% per year, yet the government remains painfully aware of the need to improve the provision and quality of education and, recognising its peace building and development effects, has placed it as a priority.

In September last year, President Salva Kiir Mayardit launched “a war against illiteracy”, supported by a new General Education Strategic Plan 2012 – 2017 and a boost to education in the national budget, with strong support from international donors and organisations. 

Ambassador Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff first arrived in Juba as EU Head of Delegation to South Sudan in early 2012, seven months after South Sudan gained independence from Sudan.  His arrival more or less coincided with the government’s decision to shut down the country’s oil production under strained relations with the north, where the exporting ports are. 

“The impact of this has been huge,” said Kühn von Burgsdorff last month, in a skype call from Juba to provide context to the development landscape. “There is a fiscal and economic crisis. GDP dropped by 52% in 2012, making it very difficult for the government to continue to finance development expenditures, and they had to implement an austerity package from July 2012, which meant no more capital investments, and only paying salaries for people working in and for the government, but not beyond that.”

He speaks below about the challenges to education in South Sudan:

While South Sudan's oil production resumed in April, on-going tensions with Sudan over security and territorial disputes pose a threat to the flow of oil which, if halted again, would deprive South Sudan of the ability to pursue its socio-economic development agenda. Under such circumstances, the EU and international donor community in Juba looked for solutions whereby they can support the government to continue to provide essential services.

The EU is planning the provision of € 80 M targeted budget support to the Government of South Sudan to ensure payment of salaries and protection of basic service delivery at local and county levels, in the crucial Health and Education Sectors.

The government welcomes this type of support. “We can not do this alone with the meagre resources we have,” said South Sudan’s Minister of Education, Joseph Ukel Abango, in Brussels last month for the High Level Conference – ‘Education and Development tomorrow’.

For support to the education sector, Ukel Abango proposes that partners pool their resources. “A lot of partners are coming with assistance, but they operate separately and that is why we propose that these funds are put in ‘one box’ and then representatives from partners and government can work together to see how these funds can be used,” he said.

His main concern is to see that the country’s ten states are fairly serviced. Left to their own devices, he said, partners would concentrate in areas of their own choice.

More development partners indeed are arriving. The General Education Strategic Plan 2012 – 2017 was well received by the donor community, though some have criticised it for being ‘aspirational’ as it proposes to half illiteracy by 2017. 

“But now this is in place, the country has been granted Global Partnership for Education (GPE) funding, which includes EU support” said Mark Chapple of Save the Children, speaking on the phone from Juba. “This is another sign of donor confidence in the government’s attitude and commitment.” 

Through the Girls Education for South Sudan Programmein particular, UK will provide £60 million over 6 years to transform through education a generation of girls in South Sudan in all 10 states. 

USAID also recently committed $ 105 M to the Safer School South Sudan Support (5S) initiative, which targets the most underserved communities in the northern states of the country.  

Save the Children, who have been active in the region since the 1980’s, has worked alongside other NGOs and the UN to assist the government develop their curriculum, textbooks and content towards a sustainable, comprehensive education system. 

Results are finally being seen. This year, DFID have also funded the production and distribution of nine million textbooks – one for every child in the country - and distribution is in its final stages.   

Mark Chapple is the Country Coordinator for the four-year DFID funded initiative, “Education for All - Alternative Education for South Sudan”. The programme aims to meet the needs of the ‘lost generation’ - young adults and teenagers who missed out on education during the 20-year conflict with the North. The programme condenses the eight years of primary school into four years, to allow this group to move more rapidly onwards to further training or into the market to become economically active. 

“Investing in primary education is also essential”, said Chapple, “ but that won’t bear fruit for five to ten years. This programme will see results sooner, and these are the people who are really desperate to get economically active to try to get the country back on its feet,” he said. “This is a major programme, and is likely to be for the next five to ten years,” he added.

The EU works with a number of partners to train teachers and build/rehabilitate schools, and is now planning how to respond to some of the unmet needs in the country.  A pilot programme on pastoralists education is under discussion, while Technical Assistance to Ministry of General Education and Instruction and State Ministries of Education, paired with a school grants initiative, in the area of Greater Bahr El Ghazal, are all activities expected to start by October 2013. 

“Despite the many challenges we are facing and the context we are working in, it’s a time for optimism for South Sudan,” said Mark Chapple.

South Sudan took part in the Learning for All meetings in Washington in April, where further improvements to the education system were discussed, including how to respond to the needs of children and communities caught up in conflict.

“We are working to educate our people,” said Minister Joseph Ukel Abango, “And we will try to use education to introduce the concepts of peace and unity.”

Please visit the Public Group on Education, and the Public Group on South Sudan. 

This collaborative piece was drafted with input from Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, Graca Sousa, Fulgencio Garrido Ruiz, Mark Chapple and Michele Crimella, with support from the capacity4dev.eu Coordination Team.