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RENK COUNTY - 28 Jun 2013

Renk County teachers ask State to ‘rescue education’

Teachers from Renk County in northern Upper Nile State of South Sudan demonstrated their dissatisfaction with the poor education conditions in the region, demanding immediately intervention from the South Sudan education authorities in order to rescue the situation.

Number of teachers from Renk told Radio Tamazuj that there are “enormous challenges facing education in the County especially the secondary schools”.

The County Director of secondary education in Renk, Amour Ashin said that there is lack of an academic calendar, curriculum, textbooks, overcrowding of classrooms; each of these factors affect the learning environment in schools. “The absence of a clear calendar from the Ministry meant that the academic year began in May rather than February. This impacted negatively on our ability to complete the syllabus before the end of the academic year,” he lamented.

“We haven’t yet received the new South Sudan curriculum in northern Upper Nile, especially for students of the lower classes, also there is a severe shortage of teachers in the schools.” Ashin claimed.

He asserted that the reason is the expulsion of the Sudanese teachers from the County without first providing alternatives. “All of these factors contribute to the low academic achievement of students.”

Daniel Adorus, the under-secretary of Renk Secondary School also acknowledged the problems, stating that there are eight public schools and other community schools which are suffering from a severe shortage of teachers.

He echoed Ashin’s attribution to the dismissal of the Sudanese teachers. “It placed a significant burden on the rest teachers.”

He also pointed out that the number of teachers in each school has now dropped. “Each school has only six teachers. The school administrators are paying volunteer teachers after the Ministry stopped, while the permanent teaching staff are being paid monthly salaries, but do not receive any other benefits.”

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