Women’s education in a shambles: Is south Sudan suffering
from a case of civil war ,tribal politics,
BY EMMANUEL
MALUAL MAKUACH
IN NAIROBI
KENYA
The challenge faced by south Sudan a
daunting one. Imagine the future of a country with half of its population
illiterate. It is a direct descent into chaos. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The condition of
women’s education in south Sudan is miserable. The country has failed to
provide good quality, equitable and sufficient education to half of its
population. Both, the state and the society, are equally responsible for the
sorry state of women’s education in the country. Lack of political will and
vision, incompetent and insufficient faculty, poor infrastructure, social and
cultural taboos attached with educated women, life threats to school going
girls and frequent attacks on the women’s educational institutions in the
tribal areas are some of the key factors behind the abysmal state of females
education in south Sudan . If the current situation prevails, it will continue
unleashing disastrous human, social, economic and political consequences on the
state of south Sudan However, determined
efforts in the way of improving education for women can certainly bring
positive results for the country. Political will, vision and commitment,
competent and sufficient faculty, implementation of proposals to enhance
women’s education as recommended in the National Education Policy since 2005 peace
in tribal areas and establishment of a state owned educational campaign through social media such as state owned media
television network can go a long way in
turning the current appalling state of women’s education into a robust
education system in the country.
Lack of political will, vision and
commitment towards the implementation of educational polices is a major factor
behind the sorry state of women’s education in the country. None of the
successive governments have realized the grave consequences of not educating
half of the population of the country. During the past ten years
of its independent life, south Sudan has
the worst education system in Africa,
seminars and conferences aimed at improving the women education in the country.
But, unfortunately, the state of women education in the motherland remains in a
shambles. The reason is obvious: “under-implementation” of education policies.
One is justified to say that women education has really made a great progress in
south Sudan but on papers only.
Also, the poor state of women
education in south Sudan is marred by multiple faculty related issues. Lack of
a sufficient, well educated, well trained and motivated faculty is marring
women education badly. There is almost one teacher available for ninety
students. Teaching is not considered a sought after career in our part of the
world. The young graduates after trying their luck in almost every other public
sector job take up teaching as a last resort. They are not teachers by choice
but by a sheer stroke of bad luck. Resultantly, these unmotivated, disenchanted
individuals who are quite indifferent to the needs of students fail to make a
positive impact on the learning process of the young minds. Moreover, the weak
structure of pre-service training facilities of the newly inducted teachers
takes its toll on the quality of teaching. Eventually, the entire education
system and especially the women education suffer.
Adding fuel to the fire, lack of
infrastructure like buildings, libraries, play grounds and furniture is yet
another critical factor behind the abysmal state of education of women in the
country. Lack of basic facilities in schools such as electricity, clean drinking
water and toilets are additional deterrents which make the already bad
situation worse. According to south
sudan Education indeed shows nothing but the sheer criminal negligence of the
state towards women’s education who make half of the country’s population.
The deep-rooted social and cultural
taboos attached with an educated woman are yet another reason behind the
perpetual awful condition of the sector in the country. In a Dinka
and Nuer society like ours, an
educated woman is seen as a threat to the social norms and cultural values.
For, with education comes freedom – freedom to choose one’s own life partner.
Education enlightens the mind and an enlightened mind questions the very
legitimacy of brutal practices such as rapes
.killing and early marriages with which
are quite prevalent in the rural areas of the country. An educated woman knows
her rights so she demands her right to inheritance. This is common acceptable in a patriarchal society
like in Dinka ,Nuer communities
Also, girls are not sent to schools
because parents see no sense in educating their daughters when their primary
job is deemed to keep the house clean and raise children. This is partly
because of illiteracy among the parents which makes them underestimate the
importance of education and partly because opposite sex while going out to
school and thus may cause a great harm to family honor. So, they choose not to
send the girls to school in order to save the family honor. This is
Alongside males and the
intermingling of women with men is strictly forbidden The challenge faced by
south sudan is a daunting one. Imagine the future of a country with half of its
population illiterate. It is a direct descent into chaos. Nothing more. Nothing
less. The issue needs a serious thought by those at the helm of affairs. It has
disastrous human, social, economic and political consequences for south sudan .
The economic cost of neglecting the education of the women is equal to a flood
every year. The only difference is that it is a self inflicted one.
Unemployment among women is rising with every passing day pushing more and more
women into the poverty pool.
The growth in population is directly
linked with illiteracy of the women. In a country like south sudan where the
population growth rate is already very high
Underestimating the potential of
half of the country’s population. Both the state and the society are equally
guilty for providing an in hospitable soil for the growth of women education in
the country. It has disastrous human, social, economic and political
consequences south Sudan . The time has come for the political leadership to
leave their petty politics of non issues and concentrate on real issues. The
time has come to realize that’s south Sudan transition into the women’s education
and not on incumbent government’s love affair with hope and change lives of women in south sudan
to make different ,
AUTHOR IS STUDENT OF MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY ,STUDYING MASS COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM .FOLLOWING SOUTH SUDAN PLOITICAL AND ECONMICS ACTIVITIES
.IN THE COUNTRY,
