Over 40 participants consisting of teachers, Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), and civil society organizations network in Lakes State attended a 2-day training on education policy in Rumbek this week.
Ador Riak Nyiel, the coordinator for National Education Coalition (NEC) Network in South Sudan told Radio Tamazuj that the purpose of the training in Rumbek is to support education.
“Today we talked about the general policy on education to members of the parents-teachers association, members of the ministry of education and social development, and headteachers of secondary schools basically on the idea of government policy in the education system, for example, the teachers’ code of conduct, and financing education," Riak said.
He noted that the participants will learn and share their challenges teachers’ welfare, capacity building, and poor remuneration of teachers which has led to many leaving the profession.
“Well, the issue of quality education is a big problem in the country. First of all, if you want to have a strong education system you need to have qualified teachers and this goes back to training,” Riak said. “Also the new curriculum was just launched last year and it will not achieve much if we don't have strong qualified teachers because most of the qualified teachers have left the profession and are now looking for greener pastures.”
The director-general in the ministry of education Alfred Agolder Mathok said the training had brought together parents and teachers in learning about the education policy of the country and that they will go back to the community and create awareness about the teachers’ code of conduct.
He said many young school girls were impregnated this year as a result of COVID-19 compared to last year.
Susan Philip Olal, the headteacher in Rumbek Girls Primary School said they will work to ensure no teacher impregnates girls in the schools and called on parents to work with school authorities to ensure such teachers are punished.