In South Sudan, Eunice and Nelson love their new school

Video of the week: In South Sudan, UNICEF is managing a US$36.1 million grant from GPE, which will build 25 new schools across the country, develop new learning standards, and train teachers.

May 20, 2016 by GPE Secretariat
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4 minutes read
A school girl in South Sudan

Meet Otii Nelson Ochola

Nelson is 15 and in 8th Grade, the last year of primary school. He wants to be a pilot to be able to fly to the United States and Great Britain and see what these countries are like. It takes him ½ hour to walk to the new primary school in Ayii, a village in Magwi county in South Sudan, near the Ugandan border.

Because of food shortages in the area, most days Nelson doesn’t eat lunch. It makes it difficult for him to concentrate on his lessons in the afternoon at school. He noticed that the teachers have the same problem.

Until recently, Nelson had only been to school under a tree. If it rained, there were no classes. He really likes the new school and wishes the new football field could be finished soon as well so that he can also play at school.

Meet Eunice Aber Betty

Eunice, also 15 and in 8th Grade, wants to become a teacher. It takes her an hour to walk to school every morning. The school she used to go to had a thatched roof that leaked when it rained. It had no toilets. Here, at the Ayii model school, she appreciates the nice building and the clean toilets. However, when she is on her period, she misses school because she doesn’t have any sanitary pads. She feels embarrassed to go to school during this time and often does not go 4-5 days a month. On the way to school, she often gets teased by boys and men, so she runs all the way and tries to join other girls to feel safer.

Building schools so that children can learn

The new school in Ayii is one of 25 model primary schools that are being constructed around the country with support from a GPE grant. A total of 5 schools were completed in 2015 and have since registered more students than before the construction began, the next 20 school will be completed this year.

The lack of basic infrastructure is one of the main challenges that education partners are addressing in South Sudan to ensure that more children are able to go to school.

Watch this video to learn more about Eunice, Nelson and education in their country:

With special thanks to our colleagues at UNICEF for their contributions to Nelson and Eunice’ stories and the video

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Dear All,
My name is Malale Tungu (30 years old) from the region of Tabora, a district of Nzega in the western Tanzania, married and a father of one child. First of all, i want to appreciate for your efforts to gather/collect different information concern about our young brothers and sisters who are the next generation. I have passed through different stories you provided, it real hurt to see children suffering, and some of them have positive dreams of their lives.
I have been teaching for about ten years to different levels from primary school, secondary schools, advanced school and currently I'm an Assistant Lecturer at Muhimbili University, Dar es Salaam-Tanzania. I have experience with the learning environment of our young children in countries like Tanzania especially in rural areas.
So, you as Global Partnership for Education you can reorganize to establish or extend your institution to many countries in Africa especially in Tanzania whereby strong institution like yours, it can benefit the victims in rural Tanzania. I have been dealing with local advice to children who dropout from school due to poverty, readiness of the parents to send their children to school, early marriage, child labor, etc. I wish, I could see strong institutions like Global Partnership for Education involving in helping our young children in rural Tanzania especially to the children who are ready and eager to go to school so that they can fulfill their dreams. Also to those children who are not ready to go to school we have to diagnose to know the source of hating school where we can provide reasonable advice/education for helping them to recognize the importance of investing in education.
I appreciate your services and I look forward for your respond.
Thanks in advance,
Best Regards,
Malale Tungu,
MUHAS-Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Dear Malale Tungu,
many thanks for your comment and for the work you do to inspire young people to go to school and stay in school. This is also GPE's goal and we work with governments in partner developing countries to make this a reality.

GPE Secretariat

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