Pupils in the world’s newest country, South Sudan, face an acute shortage of teachers. According to UNICEF, the qualified teacher to pupil ratio is 1:117. However, new initiatives from nonprofit organizations and the government are working to change the education landscape.
South Sudan, who achieved independence from Sudan in 2011, ranks last in the world in secondary school completion rates, and second to last in primary school completion. As teacher shortages are a major factor, national and local teacher training programs are making it a priority to qualify teachers.
Though more teachers are needed, candidates often lack access to the necessary training. According to South Sudan’s Education Ministry, teachers themselves often have little education, and many teachers that the country does have are underqualified. Only three percent of teachers have any post-secondary education, and many teachers did not even finish secondary school. According to John Kwai, a teacher-training professional, most of the country’s teachers “teach writing and reading at a very low level.”
The government-funded South Sudan Teacher Education Program (SSTEP) recently tried to address the problem. SSTEP’s four-day training program in Juba attracted 80 teachers from around the country. The program sought to fill in the gaps in teachers’ knowledge, round out their education, and enable them to pass on what they learned to other teachers in their districts.
Additional help has been coming from Yei Teacher Training College, a South Sudanese nonprofit organization. The YTTC holds teacher training courses, and distributes textbooks and teacher guides to assist in lesson plan preparation. With funding from the British government, the YTTC has plans to produce and distribute 9.6 million textbooks to schools throughout South Sudan.
Despite the training initiatives, teaching positions still lack qualified applicants. Low pay, poor conditions for students and teachers, and lack of teaching materials discourage many candidates. Additional help is needed to address the teacher shortages and improve education in the world’s newest country.
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