Three girls were injured and 14 others arrested after a fight broke out during a cash transfer event at Rumbek Girls Primary School in the town of Rumbek last Wednesday, police said.
The cash transfer initiative is part of the Girls Education in South Sudan (GESS) program, funded by the Government of the United Kingdom.
The program aims to transform a generation of South Sudanese girls by increasing access to quality education through providing money to the girls to buy scholastic materials.
Brig. Gen. Majak Alapayo Ador, Chief Inspector of Police in Rumbek Centre, told Radio Tamazuj on Sunday that they intervened to a stop a fight between pupils at Rumbek Girls Primary School.
"The cause of the violence on Wednesday was due to the exchange of names with non-students who came from outside and received money yet the money from the donors was for girls registered and given cards,” he said.
He added, "We dispatched the police to calm down the situation and they arrested 14 of the girls who are now in police custody for investigation and they will be taken to court for trial.”
Ador pointed out that the injured girls are being treated at Rumbek Hospital.
According to the senior police officer, each of the registered girls in the school was supposed to receive an amount of 3,400 SSP.
“The role of the police is to apprehend anybody who was involved in the violence and send them to the court for trial,” he explained.