South Sudan’s higher education minister, Gabriel Changson Chang, on Thursday appealed for support in the education sector to improve the quality of education across the country.
Speaking during the inauguration of a building at Dr. John Garang University on Thursday, Minister Changson said the insufficient budget allocated to higher education hinders them from delivering.
“The Student Support Fund. This bill your excellency was passed in 2019 but up to today it has not seen light and I hope it will see light very soon. What do we want to do with that? That body will help build our universities, transforming them from current to world-class: building hospitals, more lecture halls,” he said. “Last year, this university and Rumbek University went for almost 20 months without studying because of lack of feeding. We want to address this through that body.”
The newly inaugurated building, whose construction started on 27 February 2021, comprises 10 lecture halls of various capacities, an examination hall, and 23 administrative offices.
“We count on your excellency that whatever we are missing today will be provided by you because you are the champion of higher education in our country,” Minister Changson pleaded.
“So, those lecture halls need to be equipped with desks, computers, and labs, and we are going nowhere but to your excellency to provide them as soon as possible so that these students can now enjoy the fruit of this great work done by the Vice Chancellor,” he added.
The higher education minister also appealed for funds for the relocation of Upper Nile University students from Juba to the renovated main campus in Malakal town.
President Salva Kiir who traveled to Bor for the opening of the new building on Thursday, while addressing a crowd of citizens said he was impressed by the newly inaugurated facility.
“I believe the opening of this building will greatly improve the learning environment for students who will come to Bor to study. It also adds to our long-term policy of infrastructural development across all sectors in our country” he said, lauding the university’s administration for pioneering the project.
For his part, Prof. Abraham Matoc Dhal, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, called the inaugurated building a blessing to the country and urged President Kiir to support university workers so that they can deliver country-wide. He pointed out that the transition from container lecture halls to the inaugurated ones which cost them SSP 851.1 Million will ensure the delivery of quality education.
Established in 2008. Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology is one of the country’s five public universities. The other institutions of higher learning include Juba University, Upper Nile University, Bahr el Ghazal University, and Rumbek University.