SOUTH SUDANESE STUDIES

Education

JUNE - 2023
Education: Its etymological derivation

The study of the origin of the word “education”

Etymologically, the word "Education" is derived from the Latin words "educare" and
"educere". Educare refers to "to bring up' or "to nourish", whereas the word 'educere" means
to "to bring forth" or "to drag out". An analysis of these words reveals that education aims at
providing a learner or a child a nourishing environment to bring out and develop the latent
potentiality hidden inside him.

Education of a human being is, perhaps, the most valued goal of any human civilization that
ever existed or is yet to come in this world. However, the definitions of education given by
the great philosophers and educationists can broadly be categorized into three major trends.
They are discussed in the following paragraphs.

Education as a Spiritual Pursuit

The attention on education as a spiritual pursuit is basically an Indian concept. Right from the
Vedic period, Indian spiritual thinkers have been propagating education as means of
achieving spiritual goals.
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (1500 – 500 BCE), is the period in the
late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature,
including the Vedas (1500–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian
subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilization and a second
urbanization, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain 600 BCE.

"Education is that whose end product is salvation" and Adi Shankar Acharya said that
"Education is the realization of the self'. The Rigveda says, "Education is something which
makes a man self-reliant and selfless"

All these definitions underline the presupposition that human beings are the creation of God.
It is education whose role is to bring out the divinity already existing in man and help him to
realize himself as well as lead him to achieve salvation.

Education: Development of Innate Human Potentialities

According to some educators, the human being is the embodiment of rich inherent
potentialities and it is the task of education to help him develop, enhance, and realize these
potentialities. These innate potentialities are to be tapped right from the birth of a child and
nurtured through his growth and development of adulthood.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) said, “Education is the child's development from within".

Plato (427–347) BCE propagated that, "Education develops in the body and soul of the pupil
all the beauty and all the perfection he is capable of.

Whereas Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel (1782–1852) said that, "Education is unfoldment of what
is already enfolded in the gene. It is the process through which the child makes the internal
external".

According to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948), "By education, I mean an all-

round drawing out of the best in the child and man - body, mind and spirit". Human
personality has different facets -physical, mental, social and spiritual.It is the task of
education to ensure harmonious and balanced development of this innate power of an
individual by providing a nurturing and conducive environment for their growth and
development.

Education: Social Orientation of the Human Being.

According to some thinkers, education is a means to achieve larger some societal goals as it
is a sub-system of the macro societal system. Hence, education of an individual should
emphasize his orientation to achieve the social goals.

Moore regards education as a group of activities going on at various logical levels, logical in
the sense that each higher level arises out of, and is dependent on, the one below it. The
lowest level is the level of educational practice at which activities like teaching, instruction
and motivating pupils, etc., are carried on.

What are the Functions of Education in the Society?

1. Assimilation and transmission of culture/traditions

This needs to be done consciously and selectively because traditions need to be selected for
transmission as well as omission depending on their value and desirability in today’s
democratic set-up. For example, one needs to propagate the idea of (truths) equal to or
harmonious with each other’.

Education should emphasize on moral responsibilities in society that people should have
towards each other.

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At the same time education should encourage people to do away with the custom of child
marriage, untouchability etc.

2. Education should help in the following:

• Acquisition/clarification of personal values

• Self-realization/self-reflection: awareness of one’s abilities and goals

• Self-esteem/self-efficacy

• Thinking creatively

• Cultural appreciation: art, music, humanities

• Developing a sense of well-being: mental and physical health

• Acquisition/clarification of values related to the physical environment

• Respect: giving and receiving recognition as human beings

• Capacity/ability to live a fulfilling life.

3. Development of new social patterns.

The world is changing very fast due to development of technology and communication
Citizens rooted in their own cultures and yet open to other cultures are produced. Global
outlook is fostered. Knowledge is advanced in such a way that economic development goes
hand in hand with responsible management of the physical and human environment. Citizens
who understand their social responsibilities are produced.

Brief History of South Sudan’s Education.

Education During the condominium rule.

After the conquest of Sudan by the British forces in the name of Egypt, the condominium
agreement was signed in 1899. The agreement stated that Sudan was conquered for the
benefit of Egypt so as to safeguard the southern territories and her interest in the Nile waters.

According to the British Government, it was Egypt’s duty to meet the demands of economic
and social development which Sudan could not provide or afford. This was an obstacle to
wide scale development in education.

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Education under the condominium administration had to depend first on local taxation and
second from contribution from Egypt. The Egyptian contribution on the other hand was
necessarily limited by her own financial conditions and responsibility to European donors.
Despite this, the Sudan colonial administration was not much more concerned about
education.

However, the British were more suspicious that the natural consequence of education was the
production of a class of educated Sudanese waiting to get rid of the foreign rule. The
appointment of James Currie in the year 1900, as the director of Education in Sudan, gave
Sudan for the first time a recognized administration of education. Currie quickly identified
the aims of his colonial Education system centered on the creation of a small class of
educated clerks and civil servants to run the minor affairs of the colonial administration and
native courts.

Three factors affected the implementation of this policy

i) The attitude of the population towards the government plans

ii) The financial resources available

iii) The availability of teachers.

In the eyes of J. Currie, the director of Education, the major tasks of education in the Sudan
(north) was to produce adequate Sudanese junior officials, clerks and artisans to replace
expensive expatriates for employment in both the northern and the southern Sudan. In 1901
the director of education in Sudan, James Currie (1900–1914), defined three primary aims of
his department in the north Sudan as follows:

1. Creating a “competent artisan class”;

2. Spreading education among the “masses of the people” in a way that would enable
them to “understand the major elements of the machinery of government, particularly
with reference to the equable and impartial administration of justice”.

3. Creating a “small native administrative class who [would] ultimately fill many minor
government posts.”

The adoption of indirect rule, which meant leaving the tribes to sort out their own affairs
emanated from the British administration's recognition of the reality of the situation:

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 The modern type of schools was seen as foreign imposition by foreign rulers and
was looked upon with suspicion. Parents fear that the formal school would
replace Khalwas, and lead to the abandonment of their culture.

Udal (1938) stated that, senior government administrators toured the country to persuade
leading families that the new schools were for the benefit of their children and the
advancement of their country. They assured them that the aim of the school was not Christian
education. However, the suspicion slowly disappears but with passage of time the attitude
towards the new schools changed gradually in urban centers.

Missionary Activities in the South

The missionaries were given freedom of their activities in the South and some concessions
were made to them. This was because "the missionaries and British were fearing the spread
of Islam through Southern Sudan into Africa". Their agenda was high in the conference held
in Edinburgh in 1910, which suggested “the race against Islam in Africa should be given
priority over any other missionary problem”. So the British and other Christian Europe were
given that chance to stop the spread of Islam through Southern Sudan into Africa, by
operating in the South to prevent that from happening. In that way the missionaries were able
to extend and implement some of the policies of the British administration.

The government thought that those clergies would win the confidence of the people to its side
by teaching them elements of common sense, good behaviours and obedience. Some
problems faced by the missionaries were, the large number of languages, lack of teachers and
limited financial resources. The missionaries met much resistance from the natives because
the natives classify them as former slave traders. During the condominium period (1898-
1954) when Sudan was under the Anglo-Egyptian Colonial rule the European and American
Missionaries established and managed the education in the south with little interference from
the colonial administration in Khartoum hence the south today is predominantly Christian.

A number of Christian missions wished to open schools in Sudan. In so far as their activity
was highly restricted in the North for political reasons. Lord Cromer was the architect of the
Condominium Agreement and policy maker in Sudan. His view on education was vocational
and technical, to produced skilled workers and to detach them from the Sudanese Nationalists
so that they can support the British policy in Sudan.

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To limit general education to small class aimed at weakening Nationalists’ movements. And
English to be taught in Intermediate and not in lower classes.

Education delivery in Southern Sudan

Sudan was a British colony from 1899 to 1956. The predicaments (conditions) of education
began during the British era, from 1899 to 1956. During this period the British did not
establish schools. The beginning of education in South Sudan was witnessed when the
religious groups such as the Catholic and Protestant missionaries first provided limited
schooling. (Akrawi, M. 1960). The missionaries settled in the South according to spheres of
influence as defined by Governor-General Francis R. Wingate (1899–1916). Italian Catholics
established themselves in Bahr al-Ghazal Province, British Anglicans in Mongalla (later
renamed Equatoria) province and in the southern area of Upper Nile province, and American
Presbyterians in the central Upper Nile. The history of education in colonial southern Sudan
is characterized by two distinct periods namely: From 1900 to 1926, educational affairs were
left to Christian missionaries; from 1948, the SG intervened more directly in education.

The Educational Work of Mission Societies in southern Sudan (1900 – 1926).

There were three representative missionary societies: (1) The Verona Fathers in Catholic
Church, (2) the Presbyterian Church, and (3) the Church Missionary Society (CMS) laying
down the foundation for the educational work in the South. Although their missionary work
paralleled the beginning of Anglo-Egyptian rule in Sudan, the origin of missionary work was
grounded in the power of the Holy Spirit in individuals or groups and the belief that Jesus
commanded his disciples to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. They built schools and
hospitals for natives. In the 1920s, education became a top priority for missionary work. All
the mission societies and their mother churches already had ripe experience in the field of
education.

Missionaries founded several types of educational institutions in the South such as : (1)
Village schools (sometimes called “bush schools”), (2) elementary schools, (3) intermediate
schools, and (4) trade schools. The Curricula and teaching methods varied from one school to
another, the medium of instruction was usually the local vernacular language in village
schools and English in elementary and intermediate schools. Whereas Comboni missionaries
favored manual and technical subjects, Anglican and Presbyterian missionaries insisted more
on the literary skills of their pupils. Christian religious teaching was included in the curricula

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of all schools. Girls’ education was limited to village and elementary schools, which taught
hygiene and “domestic sciences.”

Key points; Consequences of Missionary education on southerners

1. Each missionary group initiated and implemented its own educational policies
independently which results into extremely varied pattern of educational development
this did not create unity between the different ethnic groups of Southern Sudan, nor
geographically between north and south.

2. The aim of Education was to give youth a plain Education to lead them to adopt the
modes of civilized life, train them up to adopt such habits and industry so that when
they are no longer supported by the mission they can be good citizens that are able to
support themselves.

3. The contend of the education was equally foreign a curriculum designed to meet the
needs of the British working class and to provide the much needed in addition to get
cheap labour force.

4. Schools remained under missionary groups, the philosophy of education remained

Christian the content of the curriculum is academic, low in status shallow in provision
and irrelevant to all African purpose.

5. Both groups had tailored education and administered it to serve their interest as a
result education did not reflect African needs, values, ideas, attitudes and sentiments
hence led to a crisis of relevance in the type context and purpose.

6. The system has failed to give an education that would train the people for political
responsibility. Education merely prepare them for low level positions in the colonial
administration and in independent Sudan.

Why Southern Sudan Was excluded from the British Development plan.

The south was excluded from the development plan of the British administration because
southerners were regarded as being inferior to northerners’. E. R. Hussey, a chief inspector of
schools for the Sudan government, described southerners in his report as below:

1. The conditions existing throughout the whole areas of the Protectorate and the
Southern parts of the Sudan were barbarous in the extreme.

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 2. Power was exercised by the King or tribal chief, who indulged his personal notions
and passions at the expense of his subjects and was constantly at war with his
neighbors.

3. Access to the tribes was difficult, secondly most of the many languages spoken by the
numerous tribes were incomprehensible to the officials.

Southern tribes, have been noted throughout their recorded history to have been very
resistant to external influence of any kind whether Arab or European. Practically the colonial
Administration were not in a situation that could enable them to have access to the needed
information about the social conditions of the tribes in the southern Sudan. One of the
reasons why the British Administration was reluctant to get involved in the development of
education in southern Sudan was the financial commitment involved. The British simply
were not willing to invest resources in the southern Sudan. It was not only the great number
and the extreme variation of scale of the southern languages and politics which made the
Southern Sudan a difficult field for educational experiment, the south also represented an
extreme diversity of its modes of political and socio-economic organization different
historical evolution between the north and southern Sudan had a marked effect on the rate of
development between the two regions. Negative attitudes towards the missionary education
in Southern Sudan and the Resistance of the southern Sudanese towards the western
education tended to obscure the understanding of the diversities and the real factors that
accounted for the differential development of education between the northern and southern
Sudan during the colonial and post-colonial periods.

British Educational Policy in southern Sudan

The British government enforced its education policy based on segregation. In the South, the
use of Arabic scriptures was not recommended strategically because it would interrupt the
integration of tribal life in the south. During the mission’s activity the government control
the mission’s activities and does not give the Missions a free-hand in running of education in
the southern Sudan. The British authorities supported them when it suited their purpose and
placed restrictions on them when this seemed necessary in the light of their own aims
between the north and southern Sudan which later had a marked effect on the rate of
development between the two regions.

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The policy of the colonial administration on education was to leave education in the North in
the hands of the administration and in the south education was left in the hands of various
Christian missionaries. Hence ‘’a dual ‘’ system of education emerged as a result of
anthropological study of people. There exists a broad distinction between the northern and
southern parts of Sudan.

The north is predominantly Arab and Arabic in speech. Its people are largely Arabized in
culture and outlook. The southern Sudan on the other hand contains a wide variety of ethnic
groups and languages its people are not Muslims nor do they claim Arab descent. They
practice traditional religions.

From 1926 to 1948, the Sudan Government intervened more directly in Education.

In the early 1920s, the SG (Sudan government) started showing serious interest in
educational issues in Southern Sudan. The idea of supporting mission schools through a
grant-in-aid system, which would allow a certain measure of control over them, took shape
between 1921 and 1925. It grew out of several reports and discussions. The grant-in-aid
system was implemented from 1926 onward. The number of mission schools significantly
expanded, evolving from twenty-two boys’ elementary schools in 1926 to thirty-three in 1932
and forty-five in 1948. The Sudan government reinforced its control over educational matters
through an ordinance (regulation) on non-government schools (1927), which theoretically
applied to the whole country.

According to the ordinance, the opening of any school required prior approval by the
(British) governor-general of Sudan. No teacher would be allowed to teach without the
approval of the director of education. The latter had the right to inspect all schools. Finally,
parents had to be informed by the school authorities that religious instruction would be given
to their children unless they had requested exemption from attendance.

The Linguistics Issue with Respect to Educational Delivery (1926–1933).

The medium of instruction in Southern Sudanese schools was a highly problematic issue,
which was shaped by both practical constraints and ideological struggles. Linguistic choices
were incremental in implementing the policy of separation between Northern and Southern
Sudan. The governor-general John Maffey (1926–1933) realized how widespread the use of
Arabic was in the South. In 1927, he even called into question the relevance of existing
measures that aimed at suppressing the Arabic language in Southern Sudan. Yet the Rejaf

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Conference, which was organized one year later, adopted a different linguistic agenda. The
director of education (John G. Mathew, 1927–1931) met with missionary representatives and
education officials from Sudan, Uganda, and the Belgian Congo. The professor Diedrich H.
Westermann, who was then the director of the International Institute of African Languages
and Cultures, contributed his scientific expertise to the discussion.

The aims of the Rejaf Conference were to compile a list of languages in use in Southern
Sudan, choose some of them as medium of instruction, work out a unified spelling system,
and establish guidelines for the production of school books. Among the many Southern
Sudanese languages, six were identified and selected for school use: Dinka, Bari, Nuer,
Lotuka, Shilluk, and Zande. Hence, in spite of logistical difficulties (lack of qualified
teaching staff and textbooks), the multilingual option was given preference over the one-
language alternative, be it Arabic or English. This decision ensued not only from a
philosophy of “adapted” education, but also from the Sudan government general policy that
sought to separate the “African” and “animist” South from the Muslim, Arabic-speaking
North. Such a position is clearly reflected by the way in which the conference participants
attempted to accommodate Southern Sudanese realities. Although the conference report
recognized that using Arabic could be necessary in certain areas, it called for the use of
Roman script; the Arabic alphabet had to be avoided at all costs. It was decided in the
Conference that English would be an official language in the South. Six group languages
were to be taught in primary schools: - Dinka, Shilluk, Nuer, Bari, Latuko and Zande.

In 1930, Nuer, Bari and Dinka Grammar books were produced including textbooks and
magazines. Until the Southern Policy was given up (1947), the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was
thus characterized by clearly differentiated educational policies in the North and the South.
Differences pertained to the agents of schooling (the state, missionary, and local personalities
in the North, missionaries in the South) and to the medium of instruction (Arabic and English
in the North, vernacular languages, English, and Arabic in Roman script in the South). But it
also pertained to the quantitative expansion of the educational system. Disparities between
the two regions were blatant.

Unifying Sudan, Arabizing the South

The unification of the Northern and Southern educational systems began after the SG (Sudan
government) decided to administratively “reunite” the two regions in 1947. Unification had
been called for by the Northern Sudanese intelligentsia since 1930s. The 1939 Note on

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Education had articulated proposals to achieve this end. According to Sudanese school
graduates, a “common spirit should in the first place predominate education in all its stages
and also its theoretical side.

It is therefore considered necessary that the co-ordination of policy to suit the needs of
various regions be vested in the General Education Centre in Khartoum.” The fact that
education in the Southern Sudan had been left to missions accounted for the “backwardness”
and the “primitive and inhuman condition” in which the “underfed” and ignorant Southern
tribes still lived. In the eyes of Northern graduates, the solution to the Southern problem was
to open new schools on the lines of those in the North and use Arabic as a lingua franca. The
improvement of socioeconomic conditions in the South was seen as possible only if access to
the region was unconditionally provided to northern Sudanese traders, cultivators, and
teachers. In 1942, the Graduates Congress demanded the cancellation of state subsidies to
missionary schools and the unification of school curricula in Northern and Southern
Sudan. The Sudan administration conference that was convened in Khartoum in 1946–1947
to discuss greater Sudanese participation in the government of the country also advocated
educational unification. The British and Northern Sudanese participants to the conference
agreed that educational policies had to be homogenized and the Arabic language taught in
Southern schools.

In practice, the task of unifying the two school systems lay with the new Ministry of
Education established in 1948. ʿAbd al-Rahman ʿAlī Ṭaha, who was the first Sudanese to be
appointed minister of education (1948–1953), became responsible for all educational matters
that had previously been handled by the governor-general and the director of education (both
of them British). After a six-week tour in the South in the summer of 1949, ʿAlī Ṭaha
designed a five-year plan that included the introduction of the Arabic language in Southern
schools and the unification of curricula and educational systems in the North and South.

Unification meant the alignment of Southern education on the Northern school system: the
plan indeed stated that many schoolbooks produced by Bakht er Ruda institute of education
were suitable for Southern Sudan, although adaptations would sometimes be required and
entirely new books would be produced in other cases. A year after independence, the
Ministry of education conceived educational unification as the removal of differences within
the school system of the three Southern provinces and the assimilation of the Southern
system into the Northern one. In the view of Northern Sudanese educators, two measures

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would accelerate the process: the spread of the Arabic language in the South and the
establishment of schools along the Northern model.

The unification process was completed by the nationalization of missionary and private
schools. In 1954, the Ministry of Education led by Mīrghanī Ḥamza took charge of the
teacher-training colleges at Mundiri (Equatoria) and Bussere (Bahr al-Ghazal), which had
hitherto (up to this or that time) been supervised by Christian missions. His successor ʿAlī
ʿAbd al-Rahman (1955–1956) stated that government curricula would be gradually imposed
in all missionary schools.

Ibrahim Abboud Regime

In fact, the next minister of education, Ziyada ‘Uthman Arbab (1956–1962), launched an
operation that resulted in the nationalization of almost all missionary schools and the majority
of Ahlia schools in less than six months. Coming back from a trip in the South (winter 1956–
1957), Arbāb announced the approaching nationalization of missionary schools, affirming
that all parties had been consulted. On February 13, 1957, he met with missionary
representatives in Khartoum and informed them that village schools, elementary schools, and
elementary teacher-training colleges in the South would be administrated by the government
as from April 1, 1957. Girls’ elementary schools were momentarily not affected by this
policy because of the lack of qualified Sudanese female teachers. Whereas Protestant
missions accepted the nationalization policy, Catholic missionaries opposed it, initiating
discussions with the Ministry of Education.

They obtained a number of concessions (argument) that were not respected afterward. These
concessions included the right of the Catholic Church to prescribe the curricula and books
used for religious instruction, the appointment of a majority of Catholic teachers, and the
permission to establish private schools after three or four years. On June 18, 1957, Arbāb
held a speech at the parliament, in which he promised the Southern Sudanese careers in the
administration of education. Yet like the homogenization of the administration three years
earlier, through which only six out of 800 posts had gone to Southerners, the Sudanization of
Southern education actually meant northern control. Northerners already occupied most key
positions in the administration of Sudanese education (assistant director of education,
province education officers); they replaced missionaries as heads of elementary schools in the
South. On the ground, the nationalization of boys’ elementary schools varied from one area
to another. The process unfolded at a much faster pace in the Upper Nile than in Equatoria, a

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province that was distant from Khartoum and in which missionaries had struck solid roots. As
for private “people’s” schools, most of them were also nationalized in 1957. The few that
remained independent continued benefitting from state subsidies in subsequent years.

After the unification teaching of Arabic was not effective immediately there was shortage of
Arabic teachers, books and teaching materials. This caused the government to establish two
teachers training colleges to produce the required teachers for Arabic. A publication Bureau
was set up in Juba in 1949 assigned the responsibility of simplified Arabic textbooks and
pamphlets for southern region. Bakht el Ruda teachers institute was assigned responsibility of
curriculum design for southern Sudan. Its task was clear, all the books, teaching aids and
materials were to be Arabized so that the motive behind the Arabization policy was clear.

In 1955 the government opened department for religious affairs in the ministry of education
to work on the extension of Islam in southern Sudan. The department of the religious affairs
in the ministry of Education established 12 Islamic schools of elementary levels in southern
Sudan. President Abboud declare a statement in the parliament that ‘’It is his government
concern to support religious education and that is clearly shown by the progress made by
religious affairs department and the development of Mahads (Islamic institute).

The role of the government in the field of Education during the first five years of
independence was limited to consolidation and unification of the system. The number of
government schools in southern Sudan remained small. In the year 1956, there is no senior
secondary school and teacher training college. Female Education lagged behind that of boys.
The system covers a small proportion of school age children; the number of schools cannot
accommodate all. The period from 1958 – 1964 marked the implementation of the policy of
Arabization. The government insisted to spread Arabic as a language and Islam as a religion.
The government transferred Maridi teachers training college to the north in 1956 and the
buildings were turn into Islamic institute.

In February 1960 the council of ministers resolved that Friday should be official resting day
as in the north instead of Sunday. In response to this all southern schools went on strike. This
marked the first time when southern students engaged in politics. The government closed all
schools and many students were arrested and imprisoned and the rest were ordered back after
four weeks with ten strokes each. In 1962 the government passed the missionary societies act
which restricted the activity of the missionary Christian churches from social and health
services to religious functions only, this also pushed the southern students go on strike.

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This made the environment seem no longer safe for many people therefore many students
took refuge to the neighboring east Africa. Despite political repression the number of
government schools increased, new facilities were added to the existing institution as such
enrollment for boys rose to 23,754 from 4,160 in 1956.

Girls’ education suffered from lack of teachers’ colleges and secondary schools in addition to
negative parental attitudes. There were three senior secondary schools in the southern Sudan
namely: Juba commercial, Rumbek and Malakal. Malakal senior secondary school was not
operated in the south but operated in the north in Omdurman in 1962 which was later
observed to Wadi Saidna Secondary school.

The eight years of military regime failed to find solution to the southern problem. The use of
force as a solution drove many people into exile and the Anyanaya (snake venom) appeared
as para military force prepared to protect the south and secede from the northern Sudan.
Under circumstances of military activities educational development could not continue. Both
students and southern intellectuals fled the country. Those who remained were transferred to
the north. Many schools in the rural areas were burnt down and education ceases to function
except for students in the urban areas. The period from 1964–1971 marked a period of
bloodshed, atrocities and anarchy.

Development in Education during Jaafar Mohamed Nimeri Regime

Nimeiri’s regime realized that its human, financial and material resources cannot support
both war and development around the country its policy was to build a broad socialist
oriented democratic movement in the south. He declared that he recognizes the historical and
cultural differences between the north and south and that unity of Sudan must be built upon
these objectives. The regime gave southern Sudan regional autonomy and created ministry
for southern affairs with responsibility of carrying out the programs of regional autonomy
which included supervision and co-ordination of all government activities. In 1972 the
revolutionary government headed by Nimeiri signed the Addis Ababa agreement.

Improvements in the Educational Sector after Addis Ababa agreement.

In the field of education, the government formulated educational policies and defined the
philosophy of education along socialist lines and attempts to suit education to social and
economic developments. It gave chance for those responsible for education to inject into the
system a set of new concept and enable all those concerned to re-evaluate the system and its

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fulfillment to the objectives of the government and the Addis Ababa agreement. Before the
Addis Ababa agreement, the structure of the educational system in South Sudan was
disrupted by the civil war. Less attention was paid to the widening gap between rural and
urban areas as a result majority of the people remained illiterate. The curriculum in the
Southern schools was set along the pattern used in northern schools based on Arabic and
Islamic cultural heritage.

The offer of regional self-government in 1972 to Southern Sudanese gave Southerners the
first chance in decades to handle their own affairs. In the field of Education, southerners were
entrusted with administration, organization, and management and planning of education in
southern Sudan to a certain degree.

One of the achievements of Addis Ababa agreement was creation of a regional government
with regional ministry of Education. Educational responsibilities in the region rest to a large
degree with the regional ministry of Education.

Article 20 of the agreement states that Education is an investment in and an advancement of

the individual and society. The state shall plan supervise and direct education to serve natural
objectives. The aim of the national government for education was outlined in the first five-
year development plan for the Sudan 1972 – 1977.

Provision of the universal education is a basic right and implementation of compulsory

primary education achievement and a balance between academic education on one hand and
technical and vocational education on the other. The percentage ratio is envisaged as 60%
and 40 % respectively. Implementation of decentralization in administration directing
national efforts towards combating illiterate and modernization of education. These national
aims were laid down by the national government to be implemented in the region by the
regional government through the regional ministry of education.

The Sudanese government has equally outlined the national goals to be achieved within the
plan period 1972-77. The main idea of the plan was to integrate the overall educational
system in the country for effective control by central government. Arabic culture should not
be given pride of place in the South it should be realized that southern Sudanese traditions
exist and these should be used as basis of educational philosophy and objectives to be
achieved in the Southern Sudan and this can best be done by the southerners themselves. As a
result, there was growth in the educational sector particularly the number of student’s schools
and teachers. There was significant increment in number of primary schools in the south but

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most lacked adequate facilities and teachers. After all the developments by central
government of Nimeiri’s regime and fruits of Addis Ababa agreement, the central
government deprived the regional ministry of education from planning department though
planning is essential for achievement of cultural transmission.

Difficulties faced by educational sector in Southern region after Addis Ababa

agreement:

(1) Finance there was effects of financial constraints on education and services in the general
education sector. One of the problems is payment of teachers’ salaries, teachers are not paid
on time pushing many teachers to be absent from their place of work and reduces teachers’
morale. There is also different education expenditure between rural and urban areas. Rural
school staff are inadequately trained personnel, the schools are overcrowded there is lack of
furniture, books, stationary and teachers. Generally, the academic achievements is low and
not effective. The persistent of these problems in primary and junior secondary schools is that
these levels are the responsibilities of the local authorities. Therefore, they are subject to
weak administration and uncertain financing. The province and district depend largely on
local taxes for development, these local taxes could not even maintain services and personnel.

(2) Language Problem

There were language problems though the agreement state that Arabic is the official language
of Sudan and English is the principle language of the South. Schools within the regional
levels in the South were using the local language, Arabic and English in rural areas or along
districts the predominant group languages will be used in the first four years of primary
school education Arabic and English will be used as foreign language. Then in primary five
and six Arabic will be the medium of instruction and English as second language, In the
urban primary schools’ Arabic is used as medium of instruction and English as second
language. English becomes language of instruction and Arabic is used as second language in
secondary schools. The problem is that both languages are foreign in the sense that they are
not used at home by children and parents. The multiplicity and local languages in the regime
hindered development and few selected major languages (local languages)

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(3) Inadequate Services

There was shortage of transportation fuel, poor communication system and poor services for
maintaining vehicles which prove difficult for senior officials and education officers to visit
schools.

(4) Curriculum and Teaching method

Lack of uniform and well-conceived curriculum made work for the untrained teachers
difficult. Learning depends heavily on memorization and teaching on oral instruction which
made no impact on reasoning and application. Government resources at that time could not
wholly cover the salaries of teachers in all schools and the worse is in the primary school
sector.

(5) Education administration was lacking problems of inexperience and under staffing and
ineffectiveness. Although national unity was achieved in 1972 still there was much that
needed to be done in the educational sector.

Education Delivery in South Sudan

Provision of education in the Republic of South Sudan falls under two Ministries. There are
the Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) responsible for primary,
secondary, vocational and teacher education and then Ministry of Higher Education Science
and Technology (MoHEST) responsible for higher (tertiary) education institution.
• Primary Education lasts eight years P1-P8
• Secondary Education lasts four years S1-S4
• University lasts for four years for liberal arts.
(1) Pre-primary education: is characterized by a theoretical entrance age of 3 and duration
of three years. The objective of this Programme is to contribute to children’s physical,
cognitive, emotional, and social development, and to prepare them for primary school.
(2) Primary education: generally, starts at age 6 and lasts for eight years. At the end of the
cycle, pupils are required to pass the Primary Leaving Exam (PLE) to proceed to secondary
education. According to the General Education Act of 2012, ‘primary education shall be free
and accessible to all citizens in South Sudan, without discrimination on the basis of sex, race,
and ethnicity, health status including HIV/AIDS, gender and disability’.
(3) Secondary education: lasts four years under the new South Sudanese curriculum. It is
validated by the Secondary School Certificate which is required to enter tertiary education.

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Tertiary Education: consists of:
(i) Universities leading to either a diploma or a bachelor’s or master’s degree; and
(ii) Teacher training institutes (TTIs), which lead to a teacher training certificate.
The Alternative Education System

The alternative education system: (AES) offers a variety of learning programs targeting
children and adults who have either never attended formal education or who attended school
but dropped out early. AES flagship programmes include the Accelerated Learning
Programme (ALP) and the Community-based Girls Schools (CGS). They consist of non-
formal, fast-track, basic education programmes aimed at enabling teenagers and young adults
to acquire formal education. Other programmes include the Basic Adult Literacy Programme
(BALP) aimed at youth and adults, the Intensive English Course (IEC), which facilitates
transition from Arabic to English instruction, and the Pastoralist Education Programme
(PEP), which is based on flexible mobile schools.
Technical and vocational education and training: (TVET) offers a variety of programmes and
certificates at post-primary level, usually targeting older youth. The South Sudan system is
exam-based, with performance on the national primary school leaving exam (SSCPE)
determining the quality of secondary school for which a student qualifies, and performance
on the national South Sudan school leaving exam (SSCSE) determining much of a student’s
future.
Cost of Schools
Education is not a priority in terms of government spending, despite a good level of domestic
resource mobilization. Since independence, the share of education spending has remained
stable at around (3-5)% of recurrent expenditures, far from the national benchmark of 15%
(and 10% for general education) and the international benchmark of 20% (related to recurrent
expenditures only). Such low levels are a consequence of the difficult conditions
characterizing the birth of South Sudan following decades of war with neighboring and
former parent country Sudan – which made high spending on security an imperative, a trend
that has continued to this day.
Higher education provision

Closure of South Sudan’s university campuses in Sudan following South Sudan’s

independence in 2011 has negatively affected enrolment in public high learning institutions
(HLIs), resulting in a continuing fall in student enrolment from 23,000 in 2009 to 16,500 in

18
2012 to 6,500 in 2015.The outbreak of conflict in December 2013 resulted in massive
disruptions to the sector, with the University of Upper Nile transferred to Juba. Public
universities lost students in huge numbers, many of whom seemed to favour private
institutions. It is also believed that a large number of students decided to study abroad in
neighboring countries.
In 2015, public universities were working at 60% of capacity, with more than 4,000 vacant
places, according to MoHEST admission records. In 2015, three quarters of public students
were enrolled in undergraduate programmes (4,877 students). The remaining 1,585 (25%)
were enrolled in graduate programmes. Female enrolment accounted for 22% of total
enrolment in public universities and 28% in private institutions in 2015. In 2015, a majority
of students enrolled in public universities (41%) registered in social sciences and related
studies, while 14% of students registered for courses in agriculture, and 11% registered in
health and welfare. Science and technology courses attracted a limited number of students,
with only 11% of total enrollees (688 students) taking part. Female students tended to enroll
in courses on humanities, art, social sciences, and health and welfare. In 2015, education
courses attracted barely 380 students, a low number given the high demand for teachers.
Fundamental factors limiting progress

In spite of the efforts of MoGEI and partners, the learning and teaching environment is an
important aspect of quality, and is particularly poor in South Sudan due to the following
factors:
Lack of trained teachers: South Sudan is estimated to be having 30,000 teachers; out of
this number about 70% of these teachers are untrained and close to 46% are primary school
dropouts. There is no national accreditation and certification system based on agreed national
standards for all training regimes. Instead, each TTI sets its own certificate, accredited by the
University of Juba. This further weakens the training system, while potentially harming
teachers who are perceived as‘not professional’. Current TTI entry requirements also prevent
candidates who have not graduated from S4 from joining. This is troublesome, as there are
currently very few opportunities for unqualified and untrained teachers to obtain S4, and thus
access adequate forms of teacher training.

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Limited Infrastructure

This is a major challenge since schools located in structures that cannot withstand rain might
not be conducive to proper learning, and are unlikely to function for the whole school year,
potentially leading to significant loss of school instruction time, a major element in learning
outcomes.
Majority of schools lack basic facilities and learning equipment.
The majority of schools in South Sudan lack basic facilities such as water, playgrounds,
fences, and health centres. The situation is better in secondary schools, but is especially poor
in primary schools. There is large variation between states there is also a lack of basic
learning equipment such as chalk, desks, and chairs in many South Sudanese schools, and
very few schools have libraries.
The problem of the medium of instruction in the primary schools. South Sudan has a
very large number of national languages. The aim is to use a national language of instruction
for the first three grades of primary, since children learn better if they are taught in their
mother tongue, then switch to English as the formal language of instruction for higher grades.
However, there is lack of teaching materials in national languages and inadequate teacher
capacity. Indeed, very few teachers adequately master English, with many coming from an
Arabic background, limiting their ability to teach well in the former language. Majority of the
teachers in northern states are of Arabic background and hence can hardly instruct in English
Language.
Instruction is primarily teacher-centered.

The new South Sudanese curriculum emphasizes the importance of active student
participation. However, in practice, instruction is mainly teacher-centered with very little
student activity. The underlying reasons for this situation may be large classes and poor
teacher training. Indeed, many teachers lack there requisite pedagogical skills and training
opportunities. In spite of this, most children show positive attitudes to learning, but fear
punishments and fighting at school.
Limited number of female teachers. Analysis of the share of female teachers by state for
primary, secondary, and AES, in 2015, shows that Lakes, Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal,
Jonglei, and Unity record the lowest shares of female teachers, while Central Equatoria
reports the highest share, across all sectors. State disparities in the share of female teachers is

20
a reflection of state disparities in girls’ school enrolment. Indeed, the limited number of girls
in the schooling system (i.e. the potential pool) leads to a limited number of females in the
teaching force. In addition, cultural constraints towards females entering the labour force are
also at play, further limiting the number of female teachers in certain states.

Salary Structure is unattractive for teachers.

Overall, the salary structureis unappealing and is skewed toward lower grades and quite flat.
While professional and salary mobility have remained unchanged since 2007 with currently a
teacher earning $2 a month. Salary scales are not linked to training, experience or
performance, and are not uniform across states (some are linked to the payment of subsidies,
such as the chalk allowance, or the provision of top-up salaries), which could potentially act
as a de-motivating force and fuel resentment and frustration.

The consequences of lack of proper Education in South Sudan, status and challenges.

Adult literacy is limited, with just 15 percent of women and 39 percent of men able to read
and write (South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics 2010). The literacy backdrop is
important, since it means that the vast majority of actual and potential new entrants to the
school system are first-generation learners whose parents are poorly equipped to provide
support. South Sudan has one of the lowest net enrollment rates in the world. For secondary
enrollment, South Sudan is ranked the last out of 134 countries. On any measure of the
distribution of opportunity in education, South Sudan’s children stand in a highly
disadvantaged position. The odds of a child reaching school-going age today making it
through the education system and into higher education are less than 1 percent. Currently
some 1.3 million children of primary school-age (6–14 years) out of school. Only a minority
of those entering the education system progress through primary and on to secondary school.
Dropout rates are high in the early grades but increase in grades 4 and 5. Surveys provide
some insight into why so many children are out of school. The National Baseline Household
Survey included questions asking parents why their children were not attending schooling
(South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics 2010). The two main factors were “money for
school costs “and “school too far from home. The distance to school is a far more serious
constraint for rural families. This survey evidence underlines the importance of reducing
costs and bringing schools closer to the communities they serve. Grade repetition is often a

21
precursor to dropping out. Some 16 percent of children repeat grade this is a strong indicator
of poor quality and a source of inefficiency. When students repeat grades, it places a strain on
the overall system, adding to problems of classroom overcrowding in the early grades. There
is also evidence that repetition increases the risk of dropping out. Apart from raising the
direct and opportunity costs of schooling, with a large proportion of children starting school
late, many of South Sudan’s children are still in the early grades when they reach
adolescence—a period when pressures to join labor markets or enter early marriage intensify.
Gender disparities in South Sudan’s education system are among the widest in the world.
Young girls in South Sudan are less likely to progress through to the end of primary school
than they are to die in childbirth. Girls are more likely to repeat grades. Both boys and girls
have high dropout rates throughout the primary school cycle. Almost half of those entering
grade 1 drop out before grade 3. The vast majority of girls drop out before grade 5. Girls
account for two in every three out-of-school children. Gender disparities reflect wider
sociocultural practices that disadvantage girls, including early marriage and the persistence of
the dowry system. South Sudan’s social and human geography adds to the complexity of the
challenges facing its education planners. The majority of the country’s population is made up
of agro-pastoralists. It is estimated that 70 percent of the 1.3 million children out of school
live in pastoralist communities. It follows that increasing access to education in South Sudan
will require increasing the provision of non-formal education options, with a premium on
mobile and flexible provision. Currently, there is very limited provision through the
Pastoralist Mobile School program. In total, there are just 4,000 mobile learners, most of
them in grades1 and 2.

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 References:

Federal Research Division (2015). Sudan: A country study(ed.) Beryy, L. (5th Ed.). Library of
Congress cataloging Publication. U.S.A. www.loc.gov/rr/cspdf/Sudan.pdf.
Breidlid, A. (2012). The role of education in Sudan’s civil war. https://oda.oslomet.no/oda-
xmlui/bitstream/handle/10642/1432/994661.pdf?
Kebbede , G. (1997). Sudan: The north south conflict in historical perspective. Journal of
African and Afro-American stdies. 15(3) (pp 4-5). https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/.
Ngalamu, J. (1979). The impact of the Addis Ababa agreement on Education in the southern
Sudan, Master’s Thesis.
Min, B. (2012). The formation of political identity of South Sudan from the 1950s to 1960s
and the influence of the educational work of Christian mission. Boston University school of
Theology. Master’s thesis. http://religiondocbox.com/Christianity/70273539.
Watkins. (2015). Accelerating progress to 2015 South Sudan. A report series to the UN
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SUDAN-UNSE-FINA.

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