The Government of Turkey on Wednesday offered scholarships to 30 South Sudanese students to acquire knowledge in various advanced fields of education.
Speaking during a sendoff ceremony in Juba on Wednesday, the Turkish Ambassador to South Sudan, Erdem Mutaf, said the five-year scholarship program will cover all costs of study at Turkish Universities.
“These scholarships cover all costs like air tickets, university fees, accommodation and boarding, and pocket money for students during their stay in Türkiye (Turkey). We have a memorandum of understanding for and cooperation in the field of higher education in South Sudan,” he said. “Education is among the priorities on our agenda of Türkiye in South Sudan. Türkiye has been providing higher education scholarships to South Sudanese students for the last ten years, either in postgraduate or Ph.D. studies. Up to now, we have granted 200 scholarships in total, including this year.”
“I am very happy to inform you that we have almost doubled the number of scholarship beneficiaries this year,” Amb. Mutaf added.
For his part, South Sudan’s Minister of Higher Education Gabriel Changson Chang hailed the Türkiye government for offering scholarships to South Sudanese students.
“Today is another important day for a very strong relationship between South Sudan and the Republic of Türkiye. As the ambassador mentioned, in the last ten years, Türkiye has been offering several services to South Sudanese here in the country and also in Türkiye and that is why the number of students from South Sudan has now reached 200,” he said. “Some (students) have already graduated while some are still studying and others are going. Your Excellency, we are grateful that you have doubled the number of students this year from 15 to 30 that is great support, we appreciate it and we hope this development will continue.”
Minister Changson added: “We as the government appreciate this role Türkiye and its people are playing like allowing our students to better their education and to better their lives in the long run.”