Primary schools in Unity State begin exams after COVID-19, flood delays

By Chondok Stephen Magei

Primary schools in South Sudan’s Unity State have begun doing final examinations, amidst congestion of space, after delays caused by COVID-19 and floods.

According to the State Minister of Education, Tot Jok Chieng, the examinations will take one week.

“All primary school pupils are in their final examination although there are many challenges of not covering all syllabuses due to Covid-19 pandemic, and those who are sitting for final examination are P.1 to P.7,” Chieng told Juba Echo in Bentiu.

The primary schools were supposed to sit for their primary school examination in December 2021 but the issues of lockdown over COVID-19 and flooding forced a delay.

Lich Primary School Headmaster, Gatkaui Mawic Puok, confirmed his school is undertaking the exercise with a congested enrolment of pupils.

The school, located at Bentiu IDP camp is the most populated in Unity State with 3,997 pupils including 748 girls and 3,249 boys.

“In Lich primary school, we have shortage of school benches children are sitting examinations on the bear ground and even classrooms are not enough,” Puok told Juba Echo.

“I talked to education partner UNICEF who supported an education emergency but no response up to now. Our main challenges are shortages of school benches and congestion in this Covid-19 situation,” he said.