“In a country like South Sudan, where civil war has destroyed educational opportunities for generations, the presence of functioning schools, teachers and books has the potential to demonstrate that peace is delivering. Education, more than any other sector, has the “potential to deliver an early, large, and highly visible peace dividend”. (Brown, 2011).
As a fragile state, a strong education infrastructure can help promote the peace and stability South Sudan needs in order to firmly establish itself as a nation. As a young nation, and a nation full of young people, South Sudan must commit to building a quality education infrastructure that is both stable and relevant to its youth. Education has the potential to help stabilize the country, bring about peace, and ensure the future of the nation. (Keep in mind that nearly 70% of the country’s over 12 million people is under the age of 30) (Barnaba, 2015).
But for education to work as a peacebuilding tool, it is important for South Sudan to invest in a quality, stable and relevant education infrastructure. There is a large difference between access to education and access to quality education. Being in school is not the same as learning. This is a difference that has been recognized by the international community and is encapsulated in the fourth global goal for sustainable development which includes targets such “Education for sustainable development and global citizenship”, and “Build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools”. (For more information on quality education, especially how “quality” is defined in a development context, check out the World Economic Forum’s blog on “What makes quality education?” and the World Bank’s “The Six A’s of Quality Education”.)
Though the benefits of quality education are now being recognized, implementing policies to achieve desired peace and economic outcomes is difficult. In order to build a strong education infrastructure, South Sudan and any international partners the government chooses to engage with must acknowledge the importance of understanding the historical influences and impacts of conflict on South Sudan’s education policies. In this regard, the Ministry of General Education and Instruction’s (MoGEI) is taking the right steps to ensure that it does not make the same mistakes as in the past. Its updated Strategic Education Plan for 2017-2022, aims to recognize how history and conflict have affected education in South Sudan with hopes that by recognizing and understanding its past, the government will be better situated to craft policy that will lead to sustainable peace and change. (UNESCO, 2018).
Ensuring its citizens have access to quality education will help South Sudan grow as a country. It will provide its citizens the opportunity to learn skills and trade to engage at a higher civic and economic level. Focusing on just building schools is not enough to guarantee positive outcomes. As a report for the World Bank puts it: “expanding school attainment has not necessarily guaranteed better economic conditions […] cognitive skills of the population, rather than mere school enrollment, are powerfully related to individual earnings, to the distribution of income, and to economic growth” (Hanushek & Wößmann, 2007).
To this end, I believe it’s also very important to engage the citizens of South Sudan in order to build a sustainable model of education that is both stable and relevant to the youth. Any initiative moving forward must take into consideration the needs of the people and engage them to take ownership of their own education. In this regard, South Sudan has unlimited potential as education is a huge priority for families.
“Parents and young people are striving to overturn a legacy of illiteracy, restricted opportunity, and poor-quality schooling”. (Brown, 2011).
