Girls' Education in South Sudan: The Path to Empowerment, Equality, and a Brighter Future
Article contributed by Deng Yai, Former Minister of Education for the Republic of South Sudan. Currently Co-Chair of the Education.org Global Council
President Nelson Mandela once said that “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”. He was absolutely right.
Education has changed and transformed our world and can continue to do so. Education has changed the lives of many individuals, including myself. For me, education made the impossible possible - it changed me from a shepherd to become the Minister of Education of the Republic of South Sudan; it transported me to education conferences and high-level meetings all over the world; and it enabled me to shape the education system of my country for the benefit of millions of learners and teachers.
Why is education important to girls in South Sudan?
Girls and women need education for personal empowerment; for employment or income generation and overcoming poverty. Girls need education for promoting healthy living for themselves and their families. Yet unfortunately in South Sudan, girls and women are more disadvantaged than boys. Our girls are repeatedly denied the opportunity to go to school and derive the enormous benefits of education and are at a real risk of early or forced marriage. For many girls in our education system, education is all that is standing between them and such a situation. For the unlucky girls, those who get pregnant too early or are married too early, there can be dire consequences awaiting them. There can be significant emotional, psychological and health consequences for these girls even including the prospect of the delivery going terribly wrong and resulting in another sad case of a sudden death or bereavement. So, education is pivotal for girls and women.
The law is on the side of the girls and women:
The Transitional Constitution, 2011, has enshrined the right to Education in the Bill of Rights. Article 29 states that “Education shall be a right of every citizen’.
The General Education Act, 2012, was enacted by the National Legislative Assembly to provide a legal framework for General Education throughout the Republic of South Sudan.
Section 18 of the General Education Act provides for free and compulsory education.
By making attendance for all school-age children compulsory, the law is forcing the parents to allow girls as well as boys to go to school.
Girls supported by the GESS programme now attend school regularly
The GESS Programme: A Game-Changer for Gender Parity in South Sudan
The UK-funded Girls Education South Sudan (GESS) Programme has proved to be the nearest thing to a magic wand for achieving gender parity of education in South Sudan. Since it is introduction, GESS has been increasing the numbers of girls as well as the percentage of girls attending schools in South Sudan from just over 500,000 girls (39% of overall enrolment), in 2013 to over 1.26 million girls (49% or overall enrolment) in 2021. Thanks to the people and the government of the UK for this massive support. The Republic of South Sudan is now on the verge of achieving Gender Parity Index of 1:1.
Read more about the GESS Programme and Windle Trust International’s role in it here
Now the biggest challenge for the Republic of South Sudan is to ensure financing for girls education; to sustain the gains made and to keep increasing the enrolment of girls in our schools in the many years to come. In particular, more concerted efforts need to be exerted to include the 2.8 million out-of-school children and adolescents, the majority of which are girls, into the education system.
Future Goals: Sustaining Progress and Expanding Girls’ Education in South Sudan
Of course, the inclusion of over 2.8 million out-of-school children and youth is a mammoth challenge. To overcome the challenge, South Sudan must construct more than 5,000 schools, recruit more than 60,000 qualified teachers and print more than 5,000,000 textbooks and teacher guides. On top of this, we must provide opportunities for the training of teachers throughout the country to acquire Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). The recruitment of more qualified teachers also requires the introduction of other reforms such as increasing teacher salaries to make the teaching profession attractive. We must also implement affirmative policy to increase the percentage of female teachers from the current 18% to at least 50% by 2030. This policy intervention will ensure that the teaching workforce is no longer male-dominated, trigger a change of culture to be more gender-sensitive, and provide role models for female pupils, students and adult learners.
The Constitution provides for representation of women by 35% in the National Legislative Assembly and the 10 State Legislative Assemblies. As a matter of fact, the current Speaker of the National Legislative Assembly, Right Honourable Jemma Nunu Kumba, is the first woman to lead the Assembly. Moreover, women are entitled to 35% of the seats in the national Cabinet and the 10 State cabinets as well as in the Administrative Areas. Her Excellency Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior, the Vice President and the Chair of the Gender and Youth Affairs Cluster, is the most senior woman in the national Cabinet. Furthermore, women are to be represented in the civil service by 35% and are currently hugely under-represented. The education system of South Sudan, under the able leadership of Honourable Minister of Education Awut Deng Acuil and Honourable Minister of Higher Education Changson Chang, needs to educate more girls and women to become the future politicians and civil servants.
At Windle Trust International we are committed to the goals of increasing the quality and quantity of teachers, particularly female. Some of our current interventions include:
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We provide CPD training to unqualified teachers in South Sudan to improve their capacity to develop learners.
Learn more here -
We currently support 22 female scholarship students to achieve Primary Teaching Qualifications at St Mary’s College in Juba and Solidarity Teacher Training in Yambio.
Support this programme by donating
There are also many opportunities for women to join the private sector and voluntary sectors. There are many investment opportunities in the Republic of South Sudan and women can take advantage of these opportunities if they are trained to run businesses. Women need to be educated to compete for jobs in the regional and global job markets. For this reason, the education system of South Sudan has prioritised English, French, Arabic and Kiswahili to give South Sudanese jobseekers the competitive advantage in these job markets.
Education for girls and women in the Republic of South Sudan is so important. From a human rights perspective, South Sudan must educate girls and women as well as boys and men because education is the right of every citizen. Moreover, it is an economic imperative to educate girls and women to play their role in the country now and in the near future: in 2021, girls and women constituted more than 50% (5.43 Million) of the population of South Sudan. Finally, the Constitution provides for representation of women by 35% in the three levels of the Government and the Constitution, 2011, is the supreme law of the country. The Government is expected to abide by the Constitution and meet its obligations.
Deng Deng Hoc Yai was the Minister of Education at the Ministry of General Education and Instruction for South Sudan from 2016 to 2020. He completed an MA Second Language Materials Development (Curriculum Development of English as a Second Language) at the University of Bedfordshire in 1994 supported by a scholarship from the Windle Trust International Postgraduate Programme. He now co-chairs the Education.org Global Council.