We held registrations in the last two weeks of March, ready for the new school year, which began on 4th April. Last year the school year began in May. My understanding was that each year the school year would shift back until it reached its pre-Covid norm of January.
According to the South Sudanese
system, pupils move to the next year group using their end-of-year exam
results, not according to age. This is
necessary for three main reasons. One is
because there are no resources to give extra help to slow learners. The second reason is that because of the
instability of the country, there is no statutory age for starting school. Thirdly, families often have no money for
school fees and need their children to assist with money-generating activities
just in order to survive. Many children
never attend school as a result, but some finally get a chance when the family
is more stable.
Our school is the only one which does
not charge school fees in the Nimule area and quite possibly in the whole
country. To give just one example, this
year we have an 11 year old girl starting school for the first time. She is an orphan who previously lived with
her grandmother but is now working as a live-in babysitter for one of our
teachers, who has promised that she will be allowed to study regularly. Hopefully we will be able to help her to
progress at an accelerated rate, although this will depend on her level of
ability. Across the school the age range
is currently from 5 to 18. Fortunately
the majority of those of 17 - 18 years old are fast learners and are in the highest
two classes.
After working out who was to be in
which class according to the end-of-year results, I found that most classes
were full, with the only spaces in nursery, Primary 5 and Primary 7. Each year since 2015, when the school
started, we have added a new class to cater for those at the upper end of the
school. This year is our first year with
a Primary 7 class. Next year will be our
first year with a full primary school. Primary
8 is the final year of primary school in South Sudan and ends with a major national
exam called the Primary Leaving Certificate.
Without passing this exam, pupils cannot go to secondary school.
As happens every year, we were overwhelmed with applicants for school places. Because of the sheer weight of numbers we always have to be very strict with our school criteria of HIV, disability and orphans. It makes my heart bleed that we cannot help more families, but we simply lack the capacity. It is also important not to have classes that are too large to teach.
We are not just paying lip service by
putting ‘bums on seats’. It is very
important to me that Cece Primary School should have as high a standard of
education as possible. Literacy is a
subject that is not taken seriously in South Sudan. Teachers are not trained to teach children
how to read. Literacy does not feature
in the curriculum textbooks. Up until
now I have been the only person able to teach our children to read. It has become an increasingly difficult task as
the school has expanded. Thankfully, we
have four new teachers who have just joined us, two of whom have taught literacy
in Uganda. Assuming all goes according
to plan, we will now be able to teach the lower three classes literacy more
efficiently, so that they can go up the school smoothly.
Most of those in the higher classes
were taught to read by me when they were new pupils. They are now fluent readers. This is unheard-of in any of the other local
primary schools. In order to keep that
standard in their classes, and to ensure that they pass their Primary Leaving
Certificate exams later on, we set entrance exams for those wanting to enter
the school at the higher levels. This
year, all those requesting places in Primary 5 or Primary 7 did entrance exams. The vast majority failed because they were
completely unable to read, making it impossible to accept them. In the end we were able to admit four pupils to
Primary 5, but none to Primary 7. There
was one girl who failed the exam for Primary 7, but did not do too badly, so we
have squeezed her into Primary 6. It
upsets me very much that all these pupils have been so badly let down by their
country’s schools, but even so, we really cannot admit them to a class where
they would be completely unable to cope and there is no space to admit them in
the lower classes.
The illiteracy rate in South Sudan is
67%, amongst the highest in the world.
When this figure is broken down, 90% of women are illiterate. Schools are for the wealthy, but even so are
severely sub-standard. It is very hard
to find competent, well-trained teachers.
How will this country ever progress if the situation remains as it
is?
As I write, there are rumblings in
the capital city, Juba, of a renewal of fighting between the rival government
factions. War has been the major cause
of the extreme poverty of the families we are trying to help. I am proud to say that our school started in
spite of war and has expanded in spite of war.
We will not give up, but do need your help. We are very fortunate that up until now our
immediate area has not been directly affected, except by people fleeing from
elsewhere.
Cece Primary School is intended to
help the most vulnerable and poverty-stricken children to break out of the
cycle of poverty by providing a school without school fees or other burdensome
requirements. The school is also
intended to give an example to other schools in South Sudan of what can be
achieved on a tight budget. The school
therefore has no ‘frills’. There are few
books and no electricity. This has a
side benefit of making the school less attractive to thieves (of which there
are many).
The major need at the moment is for
regular donations towards staff salaries.
We now have thirteen teachers and three cooks. The number of children has risen to 250, 50
of whom are new to the school. Those who
are new will need school uniforms. We
receive food from the World Food Program but still need to buy firewood in
order to cook it. There are of course
ongoing administrative and stationery needs too.
Having had our first week of teaching, there was a sudden announcement from the Ministry of Education that all schools had to close again until the beginning of May. It was very disappointing to have to dismiss all the children so soon after starting the new school year. The reason really only applied to schools in the capital city, which has been experiencing teacher strikes and student unrest. Yet another stumbling block in South Sudan's education system.
Jennifer, before leaving Nimule
Saluwa came back to Nimule following her operation and did very well in her end of year exams in spite of all her difficulties. She is now back in Kampala for a second operation. I did not have a response to
my previous appeal and am in severe need of funds to pay for this
operation. Is anybody able to
assist? In the same trip I have visited the deaf children in their various schools. I also took a new deaf
child, a twelve year old girl called Jennifer so that she could join the school near Mbale. She was very serious during the journey but very quickly settled in as she was welcomed very warmly by the other children.
Visitors are always welcome! If there are any teachers out there who would
like to take a much-needed break from the UK or elsewhere and join us on a
voluntary basis, we would love your assistance.
This would suit a person who is very flexible, healthy and able to
manage without mod-cons.
Thank you so much for all your help
last year. I hope you will be able to continue
to support us. Please contact me on rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk if you would like a gift aid form or have any suggestions
of ways in which we can move forward.
