Bishop Paride Taban, retired bishop of Torit Catholic diocese, has urged South Sudanese to prioritize education, saying a nation cannot be run with illiterate people.

He made the remarks on Saturday while speaking to hundreds of children from Saints Bakhita and Daniel Comboni primary and secondary schools at Narus in Losolia County of Kapoeta State.

“You cannot run a country with illiterate people. Today, when some of our children finish senior [secondary education], they say am an intellectual. An intellectual is someone who has written books and if you have not then you are not an intellectual even though you have finished other things,” said Taban.

He added, “We are happy that we have a doctor here and a professor here, but the knowledge they say without religion is just air. Many people look at material things, but it will all end into nothing”.

The retired bishop also urged South Sudanese to stop envying their colleagues who currently work with the international community.

“Today many people work with government, but you are not going to get a job just because you read. You have to sit an international competition and if you don’t pass those written and oral interviews, you will never join United Nations offices. You will never work with any international community,” stressed the retired Bishop.

In 1994, Bishop Taban officially opened St. Bakhita boarding primary school and blessed St. Daniel Comboni secondary school in 1997 as part of efforts to lower illiteracy rates in the East African country.

South Sudan still has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the world, according to the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).