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Juaibor Primary School children in class
Imagine being a pupil at a primary school that closes its doors for two weeks every month, as teachers travel hundreds of kilometers to collect their salaries! This must sound ridiculous; yet it is happening in Juaibor Primary School, located in Pajut Village, in Jonglei State, in remote South Sudan.
James Biliew, 18, is a class six pupil at Juaibor Primary School. Disabled by polio at an early age, James has topped his class since joining school, and hopes that through education, he will turn his life around in future. “All my hope lies in education. Being physically challenged, I cannot do a lot of physical activities. I pray that one day I will be able to complete my education and get a well-paying job to improve my life, and that of my family,” he shares in non-eloquent English. James lives about one kilometer away from school. Although he has to cross a swamp to reach school, he hardly ever misses school when it is in session. He might however never achieve his dream because of the poor state of schools in the area.
James Biliew
The school serves the entire community of Panyang, totaling about 14, 000 people. One would expect that with such a large population, the school would be full to capacity. That is not the case. Juaibor Primary School has only 120 regular pupils aged between 6 and 25 years of age. The 120 pupils are distributed between standard one and six, and are served by only three teachers, one of who is a volunteer.
A visit to the school leaves one in teary shock. The children take their classes in two dilapidated classrooms, and under the shades of large indigenous trees, scattered all over the school compound. They have very few text books to read, and most pupils do not have any exercise books to write on. All the three teachers can barely communicate in English. School hardly takes place during rainy seasons, for obvious reasons. The situation in Juaibor Primary School is mirrored in various other schools across South Sudan.
If what William Allin, Canadian author of Turning it around, stated about education being the means to the answer to all questions, is true, then over 70 per cent of the people of South Sudan are far from answering any of life’s questions. According to a 2008 United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report on Sudan and the Milenium Development Goals (MDGs), only 20 per cent of children who have attained school going age enroll into primary school; and out of this, only 2 per cent complete school.
Obviously the state of schools like Juaibor Primary cannot inspire any child to pursue their education beyond a certain level. The amount of work teachers in such schools handle does not serve to motivate them either. For instance, the teachers at Juaibor School are required to teach in two other schools in neighboring villages of Payoyo and Manajang. They chose to stay at Juaibor School.
Children at a class under a tree
Christian Mission Aid (CMA) continues to work with communities in Jonglei and Upper Nile States, providing the basic requirements of life. Poverty rates in this country remain high with no access to primary healthcare services; clean water and sanitation; education; or even income generating activities. The MDG 2 aims at achieving universal primary education by 2015, but evidently South Sudan will not attain this goal.
Children like James continue to live in hopelessness. “Education helps in reducing a lot of the problems of humanity,” says Esau Riaro, the Manager for CMA’s Sudan Programs. “For instance, some of the challenges we face on the ground in our healthcare services would be quickly solved if a larger population in those areas was educated,” he adds.
Children playing next to a class under a tree
Join us at CMA to help improve the state of education in South Sudan. Let us help empower the people of South Sudan with knowledge. For the word of God states in Hosea 4:6a that, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” Let us not watch as our brothers and sisters plunge deeper into destruction. Visit our homepage for information on how to partner with us.