South Sudan has been in war since 1955. Devastating consequences of both successive civil wars, and conflicts both within and between different ethnical clans, have resulted in an education system that is world’s worst. Among other things, this has resulted in an extremely low illiteracy rate, namely, an illiteracy rate of 73% for the boys and 81% for the girls in 2013 (VAS 66). In addition, in 2013, 1.3 million children of primary school age had no access to any form of education; a number that shows how daunting the context of basic education South Sudan really is (VAS 66; Linden et al, 651). Is there any hope left for a better future for South Sudan and its population, when there is hardly any opportunity for (quality) schooling, and therewith development?
Through the use of existing literature on education in South Sudan, several case-studies, and in-depth interviews, the objective of this paper is to help pinpoint the importance of education in South Sudan, both for boys and girls. Through devoting sections to the history of the two civil wars, the political point of view of the role of ethnicity, and the role of South Sudanese culture in explaining the high drop-out, this paper looks at education from different perspectives. It discusses the current state of education in South Sudan, the importance of education, with reasons specific to South Sudan, and refers to possible manners on how both quantity and quality of education can be improved in South Sudan.
This paper makes use of the most recent data available on education in South Sudan. For example by using the data from the 2009 National Baseline Household Survey, which was “the first nationally representative household consumption survey conducted in Sudan”, the Educational Management Information System of South Sudan, that highlights gaps in educational services, and the Village Assessment Survey of 2013. The latter has been used across South Sudan for humanitarian and development purposes; providing detailed information on access to basic services, healthcare, education, infrastructure and other key indicators.
Altogether, this paper looks at the context of education in South Sudan, in order to find out whether education can attribute to youth being ‘the hope of the nations’ future’; developing the country through peace- and nation building.