South Sudan’s plan to reopen schools next month is being welcomed by teachers in the capital Juba, who say the schools are prepared to follow health protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

On Monday, the Ministry of General Education and Instructions announced that schools across the country would reopen on 3 May after more than one year of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Juba Day Secondary School Headmaster, Mr. George Kenyi Wilson, said they welcome the reopening of schools next month.

“I want to say here that really, really we as teachers we welcome the decision, so let the schools reopen so that at least families around here will be happy. When children are in schools they are controlled. But now if you see right from morning children are just mingling, they are playing, they have even forgotten a lot of things,” George said.

 “So I would like to say that we are ready in terms of sanitizers, in terms of soap every time. And then I thank the government through its partners, they have brought us containers of water to make sure the academic year is successful,” he added.

The Education Ministry on Monday engaged ministers and partners during the opening of a General Education Annual Review in Juba to ensure safe reopening of schools in May this year. It said both primary and secondary schools will reopen and that the ministry was working to install handwashing facilities and disinfect schools prior to the scheduled reopening.

The conference brought together all ministers of education, director generals from South Sudan’s 10 states and the three Administrative Areas.

Meanwhile, Juba International Secondary School Headmaster, Mr. Martin Kenyi Joseph confirmed his school’s readiness to reopen next month.

“I am really very grateful to hear that of course, the ministry of education has already reopened schools for 2021. I am really very happy because I have seen students were redundant. As now the government has already given us the mandate to open schools, I am very thankful,” Martin said.

Oyet Paul James, a teacher at Ustratuna Primary School in Juba, said: “In fact, I was very pleased to hear over the radio that the schools will open in May this year despite the difficulties both us teachers and children faced during the long period of school closure. Because these young children have faced a lot of difficulties, mostly the girls. We have in fact missed many girls who will not come back to school because they are pregnant.”

 “We are ready to teach these children, but now the doubt is here, the government has announced that these children should be promoted within one month period. When we resume we have to teach them for one month of which I don’t think that it will be possible because these children will come from home empty-minded and I don’t think we shall get good results to promote with these children,” Oyet added.

The National Taskforce on Covid-19 has recently lifted the partial lockdown due to Covid-19 that was imposed early this year while urging the public to continue practising precautionary measures to curb Covid-19 infections. This follows a decline in the number of reported cases of Covid-19 in the country in recent weeks.