Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Spark It Podcast EP 18 Pt. 1: South Sudan’s Education Crisis │Patrick Chandiga Justine
15 Plays11 days ago
In this episode of The Spark It Podcast, we dive into South Sudan’s deepening education crisis with Patrick Chandiga Justine, a South Sudanese refugee and founder of CECI Uganda, JobsToApply, and WANII. With over 2 million children out of school and literacy rates below 35%, the country faces a significant educational crisis. Girls are the most affected, as 3 out of 4 remain out of school, and many face early pregnancies. Patrick shares his personal story of waiting 7.5 years to continue his education, while exposing structural neglect, underfunded schools, and teachers forced to work at gunpoint. This is not just about classrooms, it’s about a nation’s future. Listen in for powerful insights and hope.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Spark It Podcast and Guest
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome to the Spark It Podcasts, where we explore stories, insights, and experiences that spark a fire within. I'm your host, Kimaru, and I'm joined by Patrick CJ for this very interesting conversation.
Challenges in South Sudan's Education System
00:00:27
Speaker
And today we are turning our attention to a country that's often in the headlines for conflict, but not nearly enough for the untold stories of its youth, South Sudan. And Patrick is actually from South Sudan, so...
00:00:40
Speaker
Why are so many South Sudanese students forced to seek education in Kenya, Uganda, and even further away from home? Is it lack of schools? Is it poor quality of education or safety concerns?
00:00:53
Speaker
That's what we will be diving into.
Patrick's Background and Education Crisis
00:00:55
Speaker
And Patrick is here to offer us better insights ah as somebody who is from South Sudan or who might have actually gone through the system.
00:01:03
Speaker
So Patrick, welcome to the pod. Thank you very much. Very good to be on the podcast again. I know, I know, it's been a while, but yes, it's good to have you back on Nestle. Thank you. yeah So anyway, before we even get started and dive even deeper, could you give us like sort of a background of how the education system looks like right now in South Sudan so that we can have a bit more context to the subject here?
00:01:30
Speaker
Yeah, ah maybe even before um I respond to that question, I think ah maybe something to just get out of the way is um I went to school in South Sudan.
00:01:43
Speaker
I did my high school in South Sudan. So um i've i've I've had a fair share oh ah going through the school system, the education system in Satsudan and being able to see what I feel were some of the gaps or maybe ah what could be improved.
Literacy and Dropout Rates
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, but ah yeah, I mean, honestly, like right now, I feel that We do have an education crisis in South Sudan because I think um right now as we speak, there are over 2 million children that are out of school.
00:02:27
Speaker
That is a huge number of children that are out of school. And when you when you look at that, that is more than 70% of all school-aged children Yeah.
00:02:40
Speaker
So that's a huge number. So a majority of school-aged children in South Sudan are actually not going to school. You see? They're staying at home.
00:02:51
Speaker
Yeah. and and And this is probably also one of the reasons why ah literacy rates in South Sudan are really low. Yeah, they are really low. They are actually below 50%.
00:03:02
Speaker
fifty percent In fact, it's said that... um It's 35% for adults. and And we are looking at adults that are 15 years. In this case, this is statistics takes into account, for example, children who are 15 years over.
00:03:18
Speaker
So yeah, and 35% only. So the rest of the country, you could say, do not know how to read and write. um they are not very literate in that regard.
00:03:32
Speaker
You even when you look at the literacy rates, for example, ah from a gender perspective, I think like ah it's even worse on females.
00:03:46
Speaker
It's much lower there. Yeah. um Compared to, you know, maybe the male counterparts. And I'm telling you... um
00:03:57
Speaker
I feel this is a serious crisis that starts that need to actually really tackle because this is a huge percentage of young people, of children that are not attending school, you see?
00:04:09
Speaker
And so many that are not yet receiving a school. and And actually, ah right now, it's said that one in three children who enroll, for example, ah in a primary school education, they do not finish it.
Infrastructure and Impact of Conflict
00:04:26
Speaker
That's very concerning. It is. It's very, very concerning. And also, honestly, not even, not one in three, one in 10.
00:04:38
Speaker
Yeah. So 90% of people who are actually enrolled in primary school don't complete it. They don't finish. They drop out. Yeah. So it's ah it's a very...
00:04:50
Speaker
um very serious and and and concerning situation that we have with regard education in South Sudan, honestly. And honestly, when you look at, for example, early childhood development education or maybe ECD programs, they are almost non-existent.
00:05:08
Speaker
Yeah. Especially in the case of South Sudan. Yeah. and and And I am speaking of this from an experience when there was not yet you know so much war as we've seen in the last seven or eight years or nine years since it broke out in 2013.
00:05:26
Speaker
So DZ starts, it could be way worse now than it was then. you see So it's a it's it's a very concerning situation. And when when you look at university or tertiary institutions in particular,
00:05:44
Speaker
South Sudan has very few universities. Okay, we have a population of I think about either 10 million or 12 million. ah That's a big population. But we only have 13 universities.
00:05:58
Speaker
Yeah, that's a quite small number. So imagine if we had a significant, you know, portion of the population going to school, right? ah These universities wouldn't be enough.
00:06:11
Speaker
And out of the 13, only seven are government, you know, universities or public institutions. And the rest are private. You see? So it's a very serious situation.
00:06:23
Speaker
So even, you know, the... the the The children that are maybe going to secondary school and getting done, they have to either look elsewhere because I don't think the 13 universities will be able to accommodate all of these kids.
Learning Conditions and Personal Challenges
00:06:39
Speaker
It's not possible. I know. So it's it's ah it's definitely a very, very serious issue. And this is even made worse, honestly. um When you look at the news and and read or listen to maybe ah the news or maybe read from what politicians say and so forth, there is a dare humanitarian crisis in South Sudan.
00:07:08
Speaker
And this crisis affects education, like directly. In fact, there was a ah report by the World Bank that was released, I think in 2023, that says over 76% of the South Sudanese population is in need of humanitarian assistance.
00:07:30
Speaker
That's a huge chunk. It is. Yeah. More than half the country. I know. and And that directly does affect education.
00:07:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. So... It's the reason probably, you know, why we have very low literacy rates in South Sudan. ah Very many children that are ideally school-aged and not going to school and things like that.
00:07:58
Speaker
And even when you when when you factor in things like natural disasters, it gets worse. Yeah, because things like flood, things like droughts, which are very common in some parts of South Sudan.
00:08:11
Speaker
When you look at places like, for example, Zhongli and other states where there you know, flood prone and the drought prone, a lot of the kids in those areas do not go to school.
00:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, most of them stay home. You see, so honestly, when you're looking at when when you when you when you're looking at it from that perspective, you realize that an education calendar is disrupted a lot.
00:08:42
Speaker
It does not continue like you maybe know normally in Kenya or Uganda or elsewhere. Yeah, there's constant disruption of the educational life of a South Sudanese child.
00:09:00
Speaker
And it's not just once, it's not twice, so many, you see, that that happens.
Teacher Shortage and Investment Issues
00:09:05
Speaker
So things like the droughts and and the flood that are very rampant, they not just disrupted that, you know, education calendar, but also, you know, they they basically affect already a very fragile infrastructure.
00:09:19
Speaker
Yeah, because most of these schools, for example, we have a lot of schools in South Sudan that are under trees. Yeah. There's no building, no anything.
00:09:31
Speaker
Kids come and they study under the trees. And there are even cases where ah people write on the ground. Yeah. No books.
00:09:42
Speaker
You write actually on the ground. And speaking from a personal experience, that is something I personally went to through. Yeah. When I did my ah elementary, ah the school I went to, we did not have a class.
00:09:58
Speaker
Yeah. There was no building or anything. So we had this huge tree that we were studying under. Yeah. And, uh, we used to sit on the floor.
00:10:10
Speaker
and We sit on the floor and then ah we we usually, we are told to come with the sticks. that That's how we learned, you know, numbers, counting and so forth. So we'd use some of those sticks for counting, but also we use them for writing on the ground.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah. So learning how to write and stuff like that. And the eventually, I think it was a UNICEF. ah I think UNICEF, yeah. ah They brought for us blackboards.
00:10:37
Speaker
Very small blackboards. They're like small like this. Yeah. And you'd be hung on the tree? No, they're very small. You can hold them in your hand. Yes. Yeah, they're very small.
00:10:50
Speaker
So you write on them and then you rub off. Yeah. Yeah. So we used to, and then we were provided with those. So we didn't have books. They're not there. No, because once you've written and then you rub it off and it's gone.
00:11:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's gone.
00:11:12
Speaker
So, yeah. ah and And it's so unfortunate that in so many parts of South Sudan, that is still the case. you see, that so many South Sudanese children are learning under, you know, trees and and did not have books. They lack the books, did not have pens, right? For girls, did not have, you know, the minestrel hygiene materials they need to be able to stay in school, you know, and stuff like that. So I think when you look at all of these things together,
00:11:50
Speaker
you start to see why they they we have a crisis, an education crisis in South Sudan. And it's probably the reason why the literacy rates, yeah, it's just very low. They remain very, very low.
00:12:06
Speaker
And even the quality of education itself in South Sudan remains very low. Yeah, mostly due to some of these factors, but also due to lack of funding, ah lack of investment in education by the government.
Girls' Education and Cycle of Illiteracy
00:12:20
Speaker
But also many teachers are honestly not qualified. They are underqualified, underpaid, and in most cases unpaid.
00:12:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:34
Speaker
I know it's it's a lot. Yeah, it's it's it's a lot. It's a lot to really like, you know, take in. And honestly, this even gets worse um when you when you look at it from the perspective of the girl child.
00:12:51
Speaker
Yeah, it gets really worse because there's a study that says that actually three in four girls are out of school. Yeah.
00:13:03
Speaker
Three in four are out of school. So only one goes to school. It's a huge number. So that means literally 75% of girls are not enrolled in school.
00:13:19
Speaker
You see? They are home. And in fact, it is the highest proportion of out-of-school girls anywhere in the world.
00:13:31
Speaker
It is. It really is. It's a very serious one. Yeah. And it gets worse. Gets worse than that. One in three girls in South Sudan become pregnant at 15.
00:13:50
Speaker
Yeah. By the age of 15, one in three becomes pregnant.
00:13:57
Speaker
A moment of silence. Yeah.
00:14:01
Speaker
That's a true crisis for sure. And I think to point to what you said, um especially in the context of the girls and also in the context of ECD, if you don't have like proper ECD programs and that sort of like forms the very foundation for any given child, that means even as they go up, they have very, they don't have a good foundation for sure.
00:14:25
Speaker
So it means the quality is definitely not going to be there for them. Absolutely. It's already compromised.
Consequences of Neglecting Education
00:14:31
Speaker
is. Wow. Yeah. yeah And they should do with girls too.
00:14:36
Speaker
yeah Because they say that if you educate a woman, you've educated ah whole community because women do so much for a community in the context of even the kids they end up raising for sure.
00:14:47
Speaker
So if you don't educate them, then yeah it continues the cycle of literacy. Maybe even them, they would not see the importance of getting their kids to school.
00:14:58
Speaker
yeah Totally. Yeah, totally. Yeah. and And honestly, it's it's a very it's a very, very, very shaky ground.
00:15:09
Speaker
Yeah. I think that the foundation that, let's say, someone that is maybe here in Uganda, in maybe primary five or primary four, the foundation that they have
00:15:26
Speaker
is way stronger compared to someone who is in the same class in South Sudan. and And probably they perform way better than someone who is also in South Sudan in the same class.
00:15:39
Speaker
Yeah. Because, you know, your your education is constantly being disrupted. Yeah. That's... wow.
00:15:50
Speaker
Yeah. If that's, that's like a true picture of what is happening there, then I mean, it's, um, if it's not like if the, if the government does not cause correct or there's no cause correction for that, it means in the next couple of years, maybe 10 years from now, things will only get worse because people are growing up.
00:16:12
Speaker
You go to an ECD, whatever you want to enroll to a school, there's no good foundation. Yeah. You don't have whatever. And even I think there's something you didn't mention, and the high schools, the ratio of the primary schools versus the high schools.
00:16:26
Speaker
It's like there's more primary schools and very, very few secondaries. So it means also people are missing out on the most basic levels of education, which includes a high school education. yeah Wow.
00:16:40
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That's actually really sad. It is. And honestly, for one who would even say for many South Sudanese children, boys and girls alike, for many of them, school or education is not really an option.
00:17:00
Speaker
you know, could be because of the circumstances that that they are forced to face or could be because of poverty, could be because of the harmful gender norms that still exist in some of our communities and families.
00:17:18
Speaker
But also could be, you know, just because of the conflict. Yeah, South Sudan has been in war and war and civil war after civil war.
00:17:31
Speaker
Yeah. So all of these, basically, they affect, you know, education. Yeah. Which is why, for me, i think maybe many South Sudanese might agree with me on this, maybe not.
00:17:45
Speaker
But I feel we have an education crisis in South Sudan.
Elites' Role and Local Investment
00:17:52
Speaker
A crisis that threatens the very future of South Sudan.
00:18:00
Speaker
if honestly the government does not do something about it. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And now that kind of brings us to the fact um that a lot of, even in Kenya, when you go to towns like Nakuru, Nairobi, or even like the other day when I was coming here, I was seated next to this dad.
00:18:25
Speaker
And then he started telling me about, oh, I was in Nairobi. He's from South Sudan. He's like, I was in Nairobi to visit my children, to see them in school. He's like, oh, one of them is in Daystar. One of them is in Strathmore.
00:18:38
Speaker
Yeah, so I feel like a lot of young South Sudanese end up in countries like either Kenya, Uganda, or even other places to seek, especially in the context of even tertiary education or even high school level.
00:18:51
Speaker
Yeah. So what are from the context you've given, like the background ah and all that, what could be these um challenges that are driving people to seek education in india in other countries?
00:19:07
Speaker
I feel like all of these, um you know, with with now, first of all, I would like to add to what you've said about, you know, some of these,
00:19:20
Speaker
the children of the elite going to study in different, you know, places other than, you know, their country of their own or maybe going to the most expensive schools and things like that.
00:19:32
Speaker
It is exactly the case for South Sudanese elite. Yeah, the the politicians, the business people, the rich, their kids, of course, go and study abroad because they can afford it.
00:19:51
Speaker
Now, maybe for business people and whatever, those ones, maybe, you know, they made their money out of their businesses. They can use it however much they they want to use it.
00:20:02
Speaker
But for public officials... who we have entrusted them, we voted them to go into those offices and serve us and come and improve our lives, ah improve education for us, sending their children to study abroad in different countries other than South Sudan.
Higher Education Access Struggles
00:20:25
Speaker
That removes the urgency to invest in public education in South Sudan. but Why invest? My child is not here. it's Exactly. Exactly. You see, why invest in education in South Sudan when all your children are in Kenya's best schools? the baby Those are like really good private schools, actually.
00:20:46
Speaker
I know. Yeah. So some of us ah who, you know, do not have the capacity to be able to go to some of these fancy schools in a different country, we are left to struggle with whatever is there that is thrown at us as education.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah. But they could you speak more on the, kind in in that context for an average South Sudanese person who can't afford that? Could you like tell us how that kind of transition looks like?
00:21:18
Speaker
What kind of schools do they end up going? Or are they even able to even pursue their passions or it's like the end of the road for them in the context of tertiary education? Well, ah so South Sudanese education system is similar to that of Kenya.
00:21:37
Speaker
Yeah. As in it is made in such a way that is 844. ease eight for four As in you spend eight years of primary school from grade one to grade eight.
00:21:51
Speaker
And then you go to high school, you spend four years and which is from form one to form four. And then you go to university four years.
00:22:03
Speaker
Yeah. It's similar like the one of Kenya. Yeah, but it's a relatively new system. I think it was introduced in 2014 or 15.
00:22:14
Speaker
oh fifteen No, 14, I think. If not 14, maybe 13. Yeah, but that was when it was introduced. So it's pretty new. Yeah.
00:22:25
Speaker
It is. Yeah. So for students now, as I said, du the average student, how easy is it to transition to that? Or are there like gaps?
00:22:38
Speaker
Do people end up falling behind because of now they can't afford maybe to go to Kenyan university because maybe their parents cannot afford to take them to that? And then maybe be the education system in South Sudan, maybe be the university, their lack of infrastructure or whatever.
00:22:55
Speaker
So how does that end up looking like? Honestly speaking for the ordinary South Sudanese child,
00:23:06
Speaker
I would say the ordinary South Sudanese child goes through so many educational disruptions than probably any other kid that is studying in Uganda or Kenya elsewhere.
00:23:17
Speaker
ah You're struggling with poverty. You're struggling with the hunger. You're struggling with the conflict. literal war all of a sudden and you have to move from one place to another and stuff like that.
00:23:29
Speaker
So ah kids go to school and and maybe, you know, because of maybe the war or unrest or basically instability, you are forced to move.
00:23:43
Speaker
from maybe this place you were living in to a different state. And that definitely means that you're leaving your education world and so forth behind and you have to assume a completely different one and stuff like that.
00:23:55
Speaker
Or... In the process, maybe whoever is paying you to school, they lose their life or lose whatever they they they were using to sustain you or to pay ah for your tuition and other needs.
00:24:09
Speaker
So it's kind of it's kind of a very rampant thing that happens with so many such needs.
Education in Refugee Camps vs. South Sudan
00:24:16
Speaker
I will share with you my personal story. So ah when I got done with high school,
00:24:22
Speaker
And this was in South Sudan, in Ye, where I come from. um When I got done with it, Basically, I needed to go to school and my goal was to get a scholarship.
00:24:35
Speaker
And I worked so hard. I worked so hard to really get grades that would be able to, you know, land me that scholarship. And I worked so hard and was among the top 10 best students in the country.
00:24:48
Speaker
In fact, the top best of five students in the country. I was among them. And ah most often, the government automatically rewards these students with scholarships to study either in the country or up abroad and things like that.
00:25:05
Speaker
Now, for our case, most of us didn't end up getting those scholarships, even though we have been called so many times. We didn't end up getting those scholarships.
00:25:16
Speaker
As a matter of fact, people who were not in that list go to those scholarships. Yeah. But not us. And so for for me, for example, in my case, since I didn't have someone who was going to pay for my tuition, I decided, you know, focus on work instead and stuff like that.
00:25:35
Speaker
And you know what? To be able to raise those resources myself and so forth, i had to stay at home 7.5 years before I joined school. Wow. Before could join the university.
00:25:46
Speaker
That's a long time. It's a long time to wait. Yeah, and you could easily give up and just continue with life. Exactly. Exactly. And so my story is the story of so many South Sudanese children out there, you see.
00:26:05
Speaker
And some of them, you know, cannot afford to wait that long. In the middle, you know, maybe you get married or maybe you get, you know, you get dragged into so many other things. Yeah.
00:26:16
Speaker
And all of a sudden in life has turned upside down. You can't even recognize yourself. Yeah, and that is the story of so many Sassanis. So someone who is, you know, very passionate in high school, primary school, had big dreams.
00:26:28
Speaker
They wanted to achieve a B, and C. And all of a sudden, all those dreams are out of the window. Yeah.
00:26:37
Speaker
Yeah. All the dreams, gone.
00:26:42
Speaker
We are quite privileged, I must say, in Kenya.
00:26:48
Speaker
Yeah, you could say that. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, um unlike Kenya, and unlike Uganda, education in South Sudan ah hasn't just been neglected.
00:27:06
Speaker
It has been neglected, of course, but it has also been politicized, centralized, and it is deeply unequal. Yeah.
00:27:19
Speaker
So unequal. So the children the children most in need of education are the ones most ignored. Yeah.
00:27:33
Speaker
And the ones most ignored. And that brings me, you know, we're talking about just South Sudan, but there's a lot of South Sudanese, also kids in refugee camps because of course of the conflict and all that.
00:27:46
Speaker
If that's what exactly is happening in their country, then how is the education looking like for a kid in maybe Rhino refugee camp or any other camp around here, especially in Uganda, where some of them are based?
00:28:01
Speaker
Yeah. How is that even looking like for them now? Honestly, ah now, they are definitely, the education in the refugee camp is arguably, I could say, relatively good.
00:28:13
Speaker
compared to maybe what is the in in so many places in South Sudan, it's definitely relatively good. Although you could maybe not say the same, for example, for a school in Kampala, or maybe a private school and in in Uganda.
00:28:29
Speaker
The education quality is not the same. But I think um the education quality definitely in the refugee camp outcompetes most of what we have probably.
00:28:45
Speaker
What makes the difference? Whether it being, for example, equipments. Schools here are relatively equipped. Even those in the refugee camp, they are relatively equipped. Now, they are not the most equipped to schools, but they have a considerable level of equipments that can allow you, for example, if you're doing sciences, to be able to do practicals and things like that, ah or are relatively equipped with books.
00:29:11
Speaker
very equipped library and things like that. um Now, in South Sudan, most the schools do not have these equipments. Most schools do not have ah well-stocked library that is accessible.
00:29:26
Speaker
Yeah. and And Uganda, I feel like is a luxury. There are public libraries, a lot of them. Yeah. Including here in Koboko, there's one you can access. You can go borrow a book and stuff like that.
00:29:37
Speaker
Now, those are very rare. In some parts of South Sudan, they're there, but they're very rare, you see.
Impact of Conflict on Education
00:29:45
Speaker
And most often, probably some of the books you're looking for, you won't be able to find them.
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah. So you you ah you are you are fighting against so many odds. So honestly, if someone, in my opinion, if someone is able to get first grade in South Sudan,
00:30:10
Speaker
out of all, you know, whatever they face, if they come here, they will even do extremely wonderful. Yeah. Where there's almost all the, you know, the tools you need to be able to succeed.
00:30:23
Speaker
Yeah. Because there you're literally using what you have in your hand. Yeah. You do much of the work. Otherwise, you won't be able to pass.
00:30:34
Speaker
So could we make the assumption or would it be right for me to make the assumption that the reason why in a refugee camp, the education would be a little bit better than in South Sudan is because of private investment in the context of maybe non-governmental organization putting in the effort.
00:30:51
Speaker
Yeah. ah Yeah. i mean, I could say that too, but I also could say that... um In South Sudan, we we don't just lack a deliberate, you know, like a massive investment in education by government.
00:31:09
Speaker
We also lack massive investment in peace and security that would be able to allow, for example, ah private investors to be able to come and let's say establish a schools.
00:31:21
Speaker
And stuff like that, because otherwise why would you put in a lot of money to invest in a place that otherwise you're going to just lose the money? Maybe due to, you know, insecurity or instability or stuff like that.
00:31:32
Speaker
Wow. say Actually that plays a big role. The insecurity is what sort of caps everything. Yeah. Yeah. yeah So ah as a result, of course, what happens is that the elite send their children abroad.
00:31:47
Speaker
And so they don't mind investing in public education and for, you know, for other ordinary South Sudanese who are displaced and now are forced to go and live in a refugee camp and the study in in in schools that, you know, are not up to the best quality, but you know, that's what you've got.
00:32:06
Speaker
when you When you look at all of this stuff, you see that um South Sudan is not just, okay, without sustained access to education, South Sudan is not just losing its students to Kenya, to Uganda or other neighboring countries.
00:32:25
Speaker
South Sudan is losing an entire generation. Yeah. An entire generation of young people that would have become future leaders of South Sudan, future teachers of South Sudan, and peace builders.
00:32:44
Speaker
You see, South Sudan is losing all of that. And I will even tell you this. So most schools in South Sudan, ah now, maybe most would not be proper, but many schools in South Sudan are located in conflict-affected zones and stuff like that.
00:33:05
Speaker
For example, if you look at conflict-affected zones like um Unity State or Jonglei State, ah schools have been in so many cases, used as shelters or military camps.
00:33:21
Speaker
Yeah. Where soldiers stay. So this makes learning almost impossible.
00:33:29
Speaker
Yeah. It makes learning almost impossible. You see. And I'll give you this story oh about one of my brothers.
00:33:42
Speaker
He's a teacher in South Sudan and he teaches in South Sudan. So he and a certain friend of his ah were taken to go and teach in a place called Ural in South Sudan.
00:33:59
Speaker
And this place, the school they were teaching at, and this is a secondary school, um according to what he said is that They, as the teachers, were teaching at gunpoint.
00:34:14
Speaker
Yeah. The students come to class with guns. What? Yeah. It's the students? Yeah. Oh. Yeah.
00:34:25
Speaker
And you are teaching at gunpoint and you are teaching without food. You're teaching hungry. Yeah. You're teaching hungry, literally.
00:34:37
Speaker
And and he was saying ah some of the teachers are actually beaten. And because of hunger, you know, you're teaching for long hours.
00:34:47
Speaker
and And according to him, schools there operate the whole day. So you you are forced to to teach the whole day. You're not resting from what since when you woke up. And you're doing that without food.
00:34:59
Speaker
And he was saying some of the teachers collapse or faint in class. That's sad. I know.
00:35:10
Speaker
hey He didn't last a month. He ran back, said I give up. Good for him, honestly, at that point. Yeah.
00:35:21
Speaker
It's either you die of the gun or the hunger. Yeah. Wow. That's actually sad, honestly. I know. It's very concerning. It is. You see, it is very concerning.
00:35:32
Speaker
Are these students carrying guns to class for their own protection or... or Again, you know, it's c it's what's what's going on in South Sudan, ah the conflict and so much more has made, and also honestly, you know, ah conscription also, know, of maybe people ah by maybe rebel gloves rebel groups or militia or stuff like that.
00:35:57
Speaker
I think this has made like things like guns very accessible, you see. But also, you know, the communities that live there are mostly cattle keepers.
00:36:07
Speaker
And so most of them have guns. Yeah, most of them have guns and they use it to protect their animals. But also some of those places, some of the... um places that are most violent.
00:36:22
Speaker
Like you hear sometimes lots of people just being killed. Uh, and, and it's not because sometimes of war, sometimes it's just because of this community is fighting each other, maybe over cows, you know, cattle and stuff like that.
00:36:37
Speaker
Yeah. So students show up to class with guns and teachers are teaching. they They teach at gunpoint. They go all day hungry and some of them faint in class.
00:36:52
Speaker
I know it's devastating. Yeah. And yet a few people in Juba, politicians, are enriching themselves with our resources.
00:37:04
Speaker
resources that are ideally supposed to be used to improve our lives, to improve the quality of education. You see?
00:37:15
Speaker
And I think that's an issue that actually, apart from South Sudan, I think it's an issue that cuts across in African countries, like the political class. the They have had a way of doing things that has like devastating effects on the people.
00:37:31
Speaker
And then for them, they're doing well. Even like would say in Kenya, the other day I was reading about, sorry to digress, but I was reading about the social health thing, authority in Kenya, the Shah.
00:37:45
Speaker
And you realize that these people who are in parliament, yeah they don't even use that particular insurance, I think. They actually have a totally very inclusive, you know, ah kind of insurance.
00:37:59
Speaker
So I guess at some point, the reason why they become so detached with their reality, as you said, even in the case for education in South Sudan, is because it doesn't affect them. Yeah.
00:38:09
Speaker
Whether the fuel prices hike, their vehicles are already fueled by your
Political Class and Educational Priorities
00:38:15
Speaker
tax money. Yeah. So when you're complaining about fuel, about prices of goods, they might not even feel that.
00:38:21
Speaker
If it's the whatever health system, they're not going to the same hospitals you're going to. They probably get sick and they'll be flown out of the country. They're in India, they're in London, they're wherever for treatment. Yeah. But for you, you have to go to your a local dispensary or local hospital where there is no maybe,
00:38:40
Speaker
like a machine that needs to do scan or something. And they are so detached from that reality. Absolutely. Which goes back to that issue of the school.
00:38:51
Speaker
If you are taking your child to Nairobi, in a university that I also didn't attend myself as a Kenyan, because it's expensive and of course I'm imagining if you are from another country definitely your rates are not gonna be the same even for a student from Kenya, Kenya National.
00:39:09
Speaker
So it means yeah you wouldn't know what the issue is because your child is not coming back to you at a home to complain that hey today the lecturer didn't do this or we didn't have books in the library. So it's a sad thing.
00:39:21
Speaker
is.