By Awan Achiek and Editorial Team
The UN children’s Agency, UNICEF is calling upon parents and caregivers to send their children to school as learning institutions across South Sudan are scheduled to reopen on Monday 3rd of May after 15-month long closure due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“I would like to congratulate the Ministry of General Education and Instruction on the decision to reopen schools, a good decision for children,” said UNICEF’s South Sudan Country Representative, Hamida Lasseko.
“We wish all the students and all the teachers the best of luck.”
“My appeal is to all parents in South Sudan; please send your sons and daughters to school. I’m calling upon religious and community leaders to use their influence to mobilize children to return to their classrooms. I’m calling upon members of parliament and government leaders to encourage their community members to send children to school,” said Lasseko in a statement released on Thursday.
“Getting children back is job number one, the rest we can solve as we go,” said Lasseko.
UNICEF further says before the pandemic, 2.8 million children were out of school due to poverty, inequalities, cultural beliefs and nomadic lifestyles. With the closure of schools due to the pandemic, an additional two million children were sent home.
“UNICEF knows from previous experiences that the longer children stay out of school, the harder it is to get them back. With one of the highest out-of-school ratios in the world, South Sudan cannot afford to have more children missing out on education and no effort should be spared to ensure students return to finish their education” reads part of the statement.
UNICEF says it is supporting the South Sudan Ministry of General Education and Instruction in the reopening of schools by providing soap to improve hygiene and close to 900,000 face masks will be distributed to children and teachers. 200 new boreholes will be drilled, ensuring clean drinking water for the students and the surrounding communities. 2.7 million textbooks based on the new South Sudan curriculum have been printed and 1.9 million of them are already distributed.
Schools were closed on 4th February last year as a measure to try and contain the spread of COVID-19 across the country.
In mid April, South Sudan’s government announced it was lifting the shutdown it imposed due to COVID-19
South Sudan’s government said it made the decision because the number of people getting infected by the coronavirus in the country was reducing.
It said by the time it imposed a lockdown, it was recording more than 100 new cases of COVID-19 daily but that, the number is now below 20 people in a day.
A few days after lifting the lockdown, the South Sudan’s education ministry announced opening of schools planned for May 3rd.
