All's Well that Ends Better

Dear friends,

I am now in a better position to tell you what is going to happen with the school than in my last post when I was still trying to find a solution.

About a month ago, I was invited to speak at the local celebration of World Teachers’ Day which was organised by local headteachers.  I was specifically asked to speak about the difficulties faced by Cece Primary School, which I described in my last post.  I spoke briefly about the challenges faced and then said that I needed to find a way to help our pupils to join other schools as my problems with the landowners had proved insoluble.  I requested headteachers to consult their school management teams and PTAs and see if they can take some of our pupils in exchange for school resources. 

Three schools responded, one secondary (to take the Primary 8 class) and two primary schools.  I will write a little about each school below.

Liberty Primary School has agreed to take our lower classes up to next year’s Primary 4.  Liberty is a school with a very similar motivation to Cece’s - to bring up the most marginalized children.  They were told to move site by their former landowners early this year.  They are now in a large compound holding their lessons in a church as they have no buildings yet.  This year they have only had one class, Primary 8, but they are keen to expand downwards.  Unlike Cece they have been charging school fees in order to pay their four teachers, but the pay has been very poor, not even a living wage especially during a time of rampant hyper-inflation.  My suggestion is that, if donors are willing, we can pool our resources so that wages come out of donations.  Parents can still be asked for occasional assistance for particular activities.  The teaching bill will be considerably smaller than at Cece because there will be fewer teachers and fewer classes, at least at first.  I have agreed to teach and act as an advisor at Liberty.  I look forward to working with them and also to not having all the management of the school on my shoulders. 

As teachers will be needed at Liberty, I have asked if some of our current teachers can transfer.  Others will get reference letters.  I don’t think they will be long unemployed as this is the time of year when schools are recruiting for the next academic year.  Our staff contracts end at the end of December, so they are still being paid for now.

Happy Day Primary School is more stable than Liberty as their founder is very wealthy, and they have not suffered from the same threats.  Their headteacher was the first to visit me (two days after my speech at World Teachers’ Day).  He is very keen to take our upper classes from next year’s Primary 5 up to Primary 8.  Happy Day will receive desks from Cece which will help them to adjust.  They have agreed not to charge school fees.  As the desks were bought with resources from donors for Cece pupils, it seems only right that the desks should go with the pupils.

Our current Primary 8 class will transfer to Kings College Secondary School.  Kings College is a relatively new school but very serious about academic standards.  Their first few final exam results have been among the top in the whole of the state of Eastern Equatoria.  Knowing that our Primary 8 class are high-flyers, they are keen to have them!  The school charges school fees but is part of a scheme whereby they receive sponsorships for pupils from ‘difficult’ backgrounds.  Their headteacher is going to apply on behalf of our pupils.

As you can imagine I am hugely relieved to have found places for all our pupils.  The icing on the cake, as far as I am concerned, is that it is a major step forward in the Nimule area to find schools willing to take children without school fees.  The comments of all three headteachers showed that they really understood the importance of supporting the most marginalised children who otherwise would not get the chance of an education.  I think that Cece Primary School has been responsible for this change of mindset.  Without your support this would not have happened.

In the meantime, school life has not stopped.  The final exams for all classes up to Primary 7 have taken place, with 87% passing, which is a record.

We got the results for the Primary 8 mock exams and found that we were among the best in Nimule, with only one school ahead of us.  Coming second out of twenty-one schools is a big achievement.  Two pupils failed, but not by very much.  As mentioned in my last post, the mock exams are usually more challenging than the real thing, so my expectations are high for a really good result for Cece’s one-and-only Primary 8 class.  A second round of mock exams took place in which everybody passed, so we are definitely in the lead now.  

The final exams took place from 20^th to 24^th November.  The class revised very seriously for weeks beforehand.  They have been a wonderful class to teach.  One boy has decided to train as a priest and has applied to the diocese’s minor seminary.  Another has been insisting for years that he wants to be a scientist.  Without your help these would have remained completely unattainable dreams.  Thank you so much.

Primary 8 posing the day before sitting
their final leaving exams.

Cece Primary School's good standards, at least by comparison with other schools in the area, are due to teaching literacy from the early stages.  Learning to read and write is not usual in South Sudan.  Although it is highlighted in South Sudan's Education Act 2012, literacy has never been implemented: there are no textbooks or teacher training in how to teach children to read.  Almost all teaching is done by blindly copying from blackboards.  This year I received quite a few applications to join our Primary 8 class from young people from other schools.  I insisted that they did entrance exams so I could assess their chances of keeping up and passing.  Most got around 0 to 5% and were clearly unable to read the questions at all.  I offered places in lower classes, but most refused and went on to be accepted in other schools who were less stringent.  There is a huge problem of cheating nationally.  Needless to say, I will continue to teach literacy when I join Liberty Primary School.

I will continue to support the deaf and blind children, which is very expensive as there are not many sponsors for the number of children.  The costs this year have been in excess of the amounts specifically for them, so that I have often had to dig into school finances, which I would rather not do.  I look forward to the time when the oldest student, Alau, finishes school and teacher training college.  As mentioned in my previous post, he very much wants to become a teacher for the deaf in Nimule.  At that point I am hoping to find a willing school where we can open a hearing impairment unit.  If this dream materialises, we will have the first deaf school provision in the whole of South Sudan.  The costs will also come down and more deaf children can join, as it will be cheaper to teach them in South Sudan than to send them to boarding schools in Uganda.

Alice, the second oldest deaf pupil, has just finished her leaving exams.  She will start secondary school next year in a school called Nancy Secondary School for the Deaf, in a town called Lira.  Lira is much further north, towards South Sudan.  Her current school is confident that she will pass.

The buildings at Cece will be managed by my former fellow founders from January 2024, who are hoping to change it into a private school, so they will not stand empty. 

I do hope you will continue to assist my mission here, especially Liberty Primary School, which of the three is the most in need of help. 

It has been a very challenging year, but also a learning experience for me.  I am not giving up, in fact, the mission to broaden awareness of those at the bottom of society is being enhanced.  Liberty Primary School will certainly have struggles, but if you are willing to help, things can gradually improve.

Please do pass this message on to any other people who might be able to support us. 

My email address is rebeccamallinson1@gmail.com. Please do not use my old email address (ending in hotmail.co.uk) or reply directly to this email.  It no longer works, and I will not be able to receive your emails.