The Ministry of General Education and Instruction, with support from UNICEF, on Tuesday received over about 2.7 million textbooks to be distributed to both primary and secondary across South Sudan.
Speaking during the handover ceremony on Tuesday morning, the Minister of General Education, Awut Deng Acuil, said that she was worried when she found out that about 19 children shared one textbook.
“First of all, it is not even good for education because every child should have a book. So, it is not going to be one to 19 but it is going to be one to one,” she said.
The minister appealed to the students to maintain the Covid-19 preventive measures by wearing facemasks and keeping social distance during their studies.
Meanwhile, the UNICEF country representative, Hamida Lasseko, said that it was her dream to see the children go back to school, adding that she is so excited to hand over the textbooks to the children.
“For me as a mother, I am much more encouraged because it was my dream to see that our children go back to school after one and a half years. UNICEF is extremely happy and delighted to be part of this, particularly as we know that textbooks are a very important tool. The children will agree with me that it is very important for you to be able to receive the curriculum because they are the tool to deliver the curriculum,” Hamida said.
The books were printed by UNICEF.