A three-day education conference held in the town of Pibor in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) on Thursday ended with calls for more action to promote girl child education.
The closing ceremony, presided over by Awut Deng Acuil, National Minister of General Education and Instruction, urged stakeholders in the education sector to create an enabling environment in the area for more gilrs to enroll in schools.
The event was attended by education officials from both national and state levels, members of parliament, education partners, local politicians, and traitional leaders.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, Nyabok Ngali, the GPAA Education Ministry Director-General, defined the conference as, “a gamechanger”.
“The conference emphasized on the concept of education for all, with a focus on a need to prioritize girls’ education. As you know illiteracy rates in Pibor is one of the lowest in the country. So the local administration was tasked with ensuring that both boys and girls are enrolled in schools. The conference also banned forced or early marriage. Girls of marriageable age should only be married if they certainly choose so,” nyabok said.
For his part, GPAA Information Minister Abraham Kelang, said the conference was an awareness-creating event with a focus on significance of education to the Murle community.
“Education rate is very low among the Murle people. The presence of Minister Awut to advocate for education is a good thing. Counties of Likuangole, Vetet, Pibor, Jebel Boma, and Gumuruk were represented so that the message can be delivered effectively to the grassroot levels,” he added.