Government asked to increase budget for education sector

By Awan Achiek

The Coordinator for the National Education Coalition (NEC), Dr. Ador Riak Nyiel, on Thursday called on the government to increase funding for the education sector in order to churn out quality learners.

“To H.E the Vice President, we can’t perceive without talking about issues of how to fund education, we need to support our people by giving that resource (education) that they will use to be able to make profitable returns for themselves,” said Riak during the launching ceremony of the Arabic language and Islamic religious studies in the school curriculum in Juba.

Riak said that the ministry of general education and instruction is unable to deliver national exams materials on time across the country due to limited budget.

“To Honorable Members of Parliament that are here, I know you did a lot of work but you need to double up your efforts so that you are able to advise the Presidency and the Minister of Finance to release the resources meant for education,” he said.

Riak said the marking of senior four exams this year, was delayed for five months due to lack of budget.

“Until today, five months down the line, the examination results of senior four have not been released because of issues related to finances, and despite the challenges, let’s try to finance education so that critical services are not unattended to,” he disclosed.

During the ordinary meeting of the Examination Council in February, 2024, the Minister of General Education and Instruction, Awut Deng Acuil decried the lack of funding for the National Examination Council-the body responsible for marking examination transcripts.

She said the National Examination Council has been operating for the past two years without budget.

Awut noted that marking exams for 68,000 students cost about 2 billion South Sudan Pounds 9SSP).

The Education Sector was allocated budget of more than 107 billion SSP in the 2022/2023 budget.

The sector is being faced by low investment and low capacity, with its administration and management undermined significantly by conflicts in the country.