The University of Bahr el Ghazal in Wau town in Bahr el Ghazal State on Sunday graduated 55 public health officers with diploma and degree certificates.
The occasion at the university’s main campus was graced by a representative from the national ministry of health among other dignitaries.
Dr. Malek Santo Deng, the director of external communication at the national health ministry, congratulated the graduates and thanked their parents and teachers for supporting them.
“Our message today is not only to say congratulations to these graduates but to also thank their parents and teachers who stood with them. Today you celebrate the long journey you began in 2019 that will change your lives,” he said. “When you are given a certificate, we will all clap for you. If you go and look for a job, you will get a job, but if you stay at home, there will be no job for you and this is the reality.”
For his part, Joseph Mayen, the representative of the graduates, raised a concern about employment opportunities.
“The graduands you are seeing here are public health officers and we are being graduated such that we go to the community and serve the country,” Mayen said. “If you government officials do not give us work, what do you expect us to do? Some of us will just go and drink alcohol and get involved in criminal activities because we do not have what to do.”
“I request the national ministry of health to look into the issue of employment for fresh graduates because we do not have a school for the experience which employers always ask for,” he added.