A former refugee and CEO of the Canaan Group Bereket Goitom on Friday handed over the newly constructed Gorom Secondary School to UNHCR.
Speaking during the handover of the eight classrooms, an administration block and latrines in the outskirts of Juba, Goitom said his company had been in collaboration with UNHCR to construct the school, as there was none in the area for both the refugees and the host community.
“The school is in the Gorom Refugee Camp. We have been collaborating with UNHCR and noted that the learners here either dropped out of school or went to live with relatives in Juba once they finished primary school. So we came up with this idea of a high school,” he said
“It is about supporting the society since most of us here have been refugees at some point. I grew up in Sudan and studied in a UNHCR school, and I know how important education is. Without education, you cannot go far,” he said.
The UNHCR Assistant Representative for Protection, Gloria Nyaki, said the school would contribute to building peaceful coexistence between the refugees and the hosts, and address the gaps in education.
She said the school will host about 400 students and was expected to expand, have water and a fence.
The Commission for Refugee Affairs Executive Director, Raga Gabriel, said more than 14,000 refugees from Sudan and other countries would benefit from the school.
“We are expecting so many refugees, especially from Sudan. They still need time for negotiation and peace talks, and that is why this school is like the security for our children,” she said.
The Undersecretary for the Ministry of General Education and Instruction, Kuyok Abol Kuyok, said the school would benefit many people from the host community and the refugees, who will be inspired to succeed.
“They will be inspired to become doctors, engineers, leaders of this country and their home countries for the case of the refugees,” Kuyok said.
He said UNHCR would strive to complete the school to make it ready for the admission next February. “I commit myself and the ministry that we will work together with UNHCR to do the things that are pending. We need a fence, blackboards and benches. I want us to have an intake from February and I will appoint a head teacher who will prepare it for the intake,” he said.