South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Dennis Francis on Friday encouraged the government to invest more in education sector to help transform the economic prospects of the country.
“So embrace education because it’s a scarce commodity, particularly in South Sudan and we admit that we have to work smarter and harder to spread education so that more kids can go to school,” Francis told journalists during a press conference in Juba.
Francis noted that education is the bedrock of any nation’s development.
“It takes hard work and commitment but it does happen, and so education is really the key to success not just individual success but to the success of the country, because it is through education that you create the doctors, the nurses, the engineers, the teachers, the research scientists, the physicists, the botanists, the zoologists, and the astronauts,” he said.
Francis encouraged young people to embrace education to be able to achieve their dreams.
“So I want to encourage you as young people, do your homework, study hard, and education will set you free to do whatever you want to do, to become whatever you dream of becoming every day. If you can dream it, you can make it happen,” he said.
He disclosed that 70 percent of the children in South Sudan are not in school due to shortage of schools and teachers.
“Now there is a problem in South Sudan, 70% of the children in South Sudan are not in school because there is a shortage of school places, there is a shortage of teachers and so it means that children are missing out on the very thing that they need in order to be fully successful in life,” Francis said.
He said education is the top priority of his presidency, adding that it provides the population with the ability to read and write.
In February 2023, President Salva Kiir Mayardit declared free education for government owned primary and secondary schools in the country aimed at increasing enrolment.
