Candidates who sat last year’s primary leaving examinations in South Sudan’s Yei River State poorly performed due to poor quality of teachers who are not motivated, an official said.
The state education minister, John Kenyi Abiyaza said the education sector has witnessed a decline for the last three years.
A total of 636 candidates sat for their exams in the state last year.
According to the minister, majority of the girls who sat last year’s examinations in Yei River State failed compared to the boys.
He, however, said while the pass rate stood at 75%, private schools had the best performers unlike those in government-aided schools.
“Compared to this year, the performance has dropped. In 2016, 85% of the learners passed and this year we recorded only 75%. The best performing learners were in private schools and the poor performance in government schools was due to poor teachers’ pay and their sit down over the delayed salary payment,” said Kenyi.
He said plans are underway to improve the quality of education through timely salary pay and routine supervision of schools this year.