About 60% of the total population of South Sudan consists of children below the age of 15 years. This implies that about 8 million people in South Sudan are within the school going age. Of this number only 1.6 million have access to primary schooling. Southern Sudan is suffering from a near-total collapse of the education sector. Two generations of people have not had access to basic education. Very few schools are operational; few have permanent buildings, textbooks, blackboards or qualified teachers. Secondary schools are almost non-existent in the south. In Eastern Equatoria even primary schools are almost non-existent. Across the South, children have least access to primary education in the world (20%) and of these, the lowest ratio of female to male enrolment (35%). Of children that do get to school, 80% have no seat to sit on. It is therefore of little surprise that South Sudan has an adult literacy level of only 24%. South Sudan has the lowest primary school completion (3%). 93% of available teachers are untrained. Only 1/3 of existing permanent schools have latrines and less than ½ have water. Of the 1600 schools for 1.6 million children, less than 10% are permanent. Most of the data gathered on education is from different sources, mainly stakeholders in the education sector (UNICEF and others) as the ministry, both at Government of South Sudan, state and county level is still in the process of establishing procedures for planning, data gathering and management.

Eastern equatorial state for instance has a high illiteracy level. Educational institutions have been limited to Primary four; a situation that has greatly handicapped the community meaning that their level of understanding and accepting innovations is very low. This is attributed to the fact that most of the educational institutions were destroyed during the civil war.  To complicate matters, all forms of learning were curtailed for almost a decade in southern Sudan from 1983-1993.  Furthermore most communities (and their culture) in Eastern Equatoria State do not value education highly, even less so for girls.

Currently, only 22% of school age children are enrolled in school, and of this 22%, girl students make up only 26%. An estimated 48% of teachers are not trained and female teachers make up only 6% of all the primary school teachers. The majority (70%) children are out of school for various reasons including cultural traditions that do not value education. Other pupils, especially girls are kept at home to help parents in the fields or kitchen or to get married. The average distance to school is 7-10 km.

For most schools, the most critical constraints are the poor learning environment characterized by lack of classrooms, teaching material and teachers. Pupils in most schools are taught outside and under trees, sit on logs of wood or stones, without text books and other teaching aids. Schools lack qualified teachers and even the most basic hygiene facilities such as latrines and drinking water.  The sanitation factor has contributed to high dropouts rates for girls while lack of water has caused schools not to open on time as they wait for the onset of rains.

Besides being largely untrained, teachers are volunteers from the communities and are supported in kind by the communities since they are not paid a salary.  They teach on a curriculum that is not unified.  Some teachers use a Kenyan syllabus, others use a Ugandan syllabus and still others use a New Sudanese system.  This complicates final examination and certification.

There is a great need to campaign for school aged children to enroll in primary schools. This will meet the MDG 2 which addresses achievement of universal primary education with a specific target of every child will complete a full course of primary school by 2015.  MDG 3 addresses gender inequality; eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education. 

The Government of South Sudan has set objectives for the education sector. The government aims to increased access to pre-tertiary and tertiary education for the communities of South Sudan. These will be achieved by increasing primary school enrolment from 22% to 52% by 2010;  increasing girl enrolment from 11% to 40% by 2010;  increasing capacity for local management and  enhancing education planning and coordination; and  improving existing teaching systems including teacher training, deployment and retention.

To achieve the above, SNV will support and compliment efforts of the government and other actors aimed at;  improving planning and management of primary schooling; increasing enrolment and retention of girls into schools; increasing teacher training, deployment and retention.