The Ethiopian Government on Wednesday offered scholarships to 14 South Sudanese to pursue various postgraduate programs.
The scholars, eleven males and three females will specialize in eleven fields of studies in engineering, health, geology, anaesthesia and others.
Speaking during a farewell ceremony held at the Embassy in Juba, Ethiopian Ambassador to South Sudan Nebil Mahdi Abdallahi said the program aims at building the country’s human resource.
“Our government is prioritizing the scholarships for South Sudanese students because basically as you know human capacity building is a key issue for the development of any nation rather than having infrastructure, priority needs to go to human capital,” said Mahdi.
“You are going to your second home, free and if there is any issue, we need to follow, we are ready and we will follow up on your performance and your situation in Ethiopia and I hope Ethiopian people are welcoming and proud of South Sudanese.”
Dr. Justo Wani Jada, Director General for Training and External Relations at the Ministry of Higher Education urged the beneficiaries to acquire knowledge to contribute to nation-building.
“We want you to maintain that long history and you are now going to study there. You will know the people of Ethiopia properly, what type of people are they and why they struggled for us, South Sudanese during the liberation movement and now in education because when you fight liberation wars then automatically, you have to be educated so that you are informed,” said Wani.
Wani encouraged the students to work hard to never disappoint their country.
“My advice to you is to be prepared from now that you are going to Ethiopia and you are going to fight educationally and then you will come back with a certificate that you will be the first beneficiary, your parents and community at large and if you disappoint us, we will say, sorry but always don’t disappoint your parents and your country.”
Ethiopia and South Sudan signed education agreement in November 2022. This program is specifically for undergraduate, postgraduate, technical, vocational, and PhD programs.
Since independence, South Sudan has been cooperating with Ethiopia in the field of education where thousands of students were sponsored to study various courses in Ethiopia.
On November 22, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia increased the number of scholarships for South Sudanese students from 100 to 150.
Previously, Ethiopia provided scholarships for both post-graduate and undergraduate students besides Technical Education and Vocational Training (TVET) for 60 students.