Education

This report is part of the collection of publications on “Education, Conflict and Civicness in South Sudan”, which is the outcome of a collaboration between the South Sudan Studies Association (SSSA) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

If universities are to contribute to political transformation and civicness in conflict settings, they must foster gender equality. This is an exceptional challenge in the context of South Sudan, where female literacy was last estimated at under 30 percent and where universities have been affected by conflict and resource shortages. Societal dynamics arising out of a patriarchal society mean that the ratio of boys and girls enrolled in schools remains unequal. This persists at the university level, resulting in fewer females joining universities as students and academics. But even those who are admitted face complex challenges. This paper explores whether and how the University of Juba is promoting equality and inclusion in practice and assesses the implications. It examines the existence of formal and informal policies, attitudes towards teaching certain courses, attitudes of students towards female students and lecturers, and attitudes of non-teaching staff at the College of Law and at the Institute for Peace, Development and Security Studies. The research offers recommendations on how the prevailing situation could be mitigated and how the university can counter gender inequality to build on what has been achieved so far.

Basic education is a fundamental economic necessity, but circumstances such as armed violence often make its effective provision quite grim. This is particularly pertinent in South Sudan where the delivery of social services has been greatly undermined by a recent violence. This policy brief analyzes the impacts of South Sudan’s ongoing violence on education in the three states of Upper Nile. Our findings indicate that the war has led to pronounced reductions in educational activities and resources in the area, with school closure and mass outmigration as a result. We recommend to both the government and the humanitarian community to pay considerable attention to the educational priorities of the communities in question, paying teachers regularly, and supplying necessary inputs for continued learning in the area. Continued investments in education, even in the time of mass violence, reduce future social injustice and set stage for needed stability in the country.

Minimum quality standards for education are common in low and lower middle-income countries. However, the scope and use of these standards are determined by the country’s level of development. Therefore, some countries have advanced standards, whilst others have simple tools and frameworks to guide the quality of their basic education.
Minimum standards are used to monitor, evaluate and inspect the quality of education provision. As such they can also improve accountability in education. However, the availability of minimum quality education frameworks and tools in a country does not always mean they are effective as the availability of both technical and financial resources affects implementation.
Overall, minimum standards of basic education contribute to different aspects of quality education. For example, compliance to school infrastructure and environment might promote the safety, health and general well-being of the learners but if the standards of the teacher quality and teaching learning resources are not met then good students’ learning outcomes may not be achieved. Generally, there is an agreement and assumption that the use of minimum standards supports the harmonisation of education provisions and can contribute to quality education.

This rapid review focusses on efforts to mitigate the educational impact of previous disease outbreaks, concentrating on school-age learners. It follows two companion papers that reviewed broader secondary effects and attempts to mitigate them (Rohwerder, 2020; Kelly, 2020). It aims to inform the education sector’s responses to the COVID-19 crisis, although there are important differences between previous disease outbreaks and the COVID-19 situation. For instance, unlike Ebola, transmission of COVID-19 is asymptomatic, and the outbreak is global. This review finds a limited range of quantitative evidence on the educational impact of disease outbreaks, and minimal evidence on mitigation measures or their impact. Although several ‘lessons learned’ documents include guidelines and recommendations (and now complemented by many education-focused COVID-responsive blogs), this review finds that these are rarely based on evidence of impact of particular interventions, or on evidence of the impact of different approaches to action, co-ordinations, funding or prioritisation. The review found four particular evidence gaps: First, how distance learning materials can support learners who do not have access to family members with the skills or time to help them. Second, a gap in the use of screen or internet-enabled technologies to support alternative education. Third (and related), a gap in remote teacher training and development during school closures. Finally, the review analysed gender and equity issues but did not find any literature that explored disability. The education in emergencies literature has an emerging evidence base across all four themes within refugee education contexts, but has not yet learnt from or applied this evidence to disease outbreak situations.

This article discusses the relationship between education and armed conflict in Sudan and South Sudan, and particularly the role of teachers in peace and reconciliation efforts. The periods covered are the North-South civil war from 1955 to 2005, the interim period between 2005 and 2011 with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the current civil war in South Sudan which started two years after South Sudan’s independence in 2013.

The article shows that teachers are not always promoters of peace and reconciliation, and that their teaching in class to a large extent is context-dependent. The teachers in the Islamic schools during the first civil war had few options but to teach according to the Islamic curriculum and thus cemented the self-Other dichotomy between the Northerners and the Southerners in the conflict-ridden country. Moreover, the article shows that the teachers in the liberation areas in the South during the first civil war chose deliberately a confrontation strategy against their oppressors from the North that coincided with the resistance war.

In the civil war inside South Sudan from 2013 a different teaching pattern emerged where the teachers discussed openly the atrocities of the North during the first civil war, but applied an avoidance strategy in class when teaching about the civil war inside the South. It was perceived to be less of a dilemma to teach contemporary history without touching upon domestic conflict and ethnic rivalry than to teach about conflicts in the South which seriously undermined any idea of social cohesion. Undoubtedly, the teachers felt strongly that it was necessary to treat history teaching carefully, and that there is a fine line between what should and should not be told. There was a perception among teachers that debating the domestic civil war might cause unrest and conflict in class whereas any discussion of the South-North war would not since very few, if any of the students had any allegiance to the North and the Islamic discourse. The article thus raises the question of the relationship between the teachers’ solutions to these dilemmas and education’s role in conflict situations.

This review identified enablers and barriers to the successful delivery of accelerated learning programmes and complementary education. The policy environment is identified as being an overarching factor that can behave as both an enabler and a barrier, with contexts that integrate non-formal education into policy texts being among the most enabling. Other enablers and barriers are explored in relation to programme delivery, followed by a brief exploration of learners transitioning into the formal education system. The report identified inconsistencies in the terminology surrounding accelerated learning and complementary learning programmes, and has therefore adopted the most common language used: accelerated education programmes (AEPs). A key reflection from this review is on the tension that exists between successful AEPs integrating effectively with national systems, whilst also remaining independent enough to overcome the barriers faced by those same systems.

This report is part of the collection of publications on “Education, Conflict and Civicness in South Sudan”, which is the outcome of a collaboration between the South Sudan Studies Association (SSSA) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

South Sudan’s independence in 2011 reopened the debate about the use of indigenous languages as media of instruction at the early stages of schooling, which has intensified among African countries formerly under colonial rule. Many studies express concerns and criticisms about educational policies, specifically regarding the language of instruction. Before South Sudan gained independence, the language policy situation was more complex than today, due to numerous attempts by successive governments in the Sudan to Arabicise the educational system, leaving no room for consideration of the use of indigenous languages as media of instruction at the initial stages of education. Although there is sufficient empirical evidence in the literature which supports the use of indigenous languages as the media of instruction in the first three to four years of primary schooling, there are many vehemently opposed to this idea.

Background: A key part of treating and preventing malnutrition is the provision of effective nutrition education to the clients and caretakers so that they can self-manage their nutrition needs even after discharge from the hospital. For effective nutrition education,three factors are paramount; The successful transfer of knowledge and skills, client motivation to act on theacquired skills and knowledge and ensuring that the patient is able to understand and put to practice the educational messages given.

Methods: The study used cross sectional design with mixed method of data collection that involved 83 caretakers of admitted SAM children at Al-Sabah children hospital ITC, Sample size was determined using Cochran 1975, interviewer administered questionnaires and focus group discussion guide were the tools used in collecting data. Data set was generated using EPI info andanalyzed using SPSS version 21, the analyzed descriptive data was triangulated with the qualitative data collected using FGD.

Results: The majority of the caretakers were female 78 (94%) of which 68 (81.9%) were mothers to the children that were admitted. Only 8 (9.6%) of the respondents were found to have attained effective nutrition education and majority of the respondents were found not to be recalling the information they were given during the education session.Conclusion: As per the guidelinesadaptedby the ministry of health republic of South Sudan, the nutrition education sessions conducted was found not be effective as most of the clients could not even recall the information given.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked unprecedented havoc on children, families and communities around the globe, disrupting vital services and putting millions of lives at risk. Since March, attempts to avert the global health crisis have seen nationwide school closures in 194 countries, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners – over 90 per cent of the world’s school-going population.

For the most vulnerable children, especially girls, accessing education and staying in school is hard enough. The pandemic has caused additional, unanticipated disruption, and the likelihood of vulnerable children being able to continue their education has plummeted. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, 258 million children and youth of primary and secondary school age were already failing to access education. On top of that, the United Nations now estimates that nearly 11 million primary and secondary school learners worldwide – 5.2 million of whom are girls – are at risk of not returning to education following school closures due to COVID-19.

This report spotlights one particular vulnerability that is known to be exacerbated by school closures in times of crisis and risks the continued education of vulnerable children: teenage pregnancy. School closures during crises can result in girls spending more time with men and boys than they would were they to be in school, leading to greater likelihood of engagement in risky sexual behaviour and increased risk of sexual violence and exploitation. Teenage pregnancy is further linked to lack of sexual and reproductive health education and services, child marriage, health and well-being risks, and increased poverty and insecurity. Complications from teenage pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death of girls aged 15 to 19 years worldwide.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to more out-of -school children than any other region in the world. It also has the highest teenage pregnancy rates globally, making the region uniquely confronted by how to address and accommodate pregnancies and young mothers in school. Policies range across the region –from outright expulsion of pregnant girls to strategies that support the continued education of adolescent mothers – yet social norms, practices and other barriers still typically result in pregnancy being the end to one’s education. World Vision estimates that as many as one million girls across sub-Saharan Africa may be blocked from returning to school due to pregnancy during COVID-19 school closures. With school closures related to COVID-19 threatening to lead to an increase in teenage pregnancy, sub-Saharan Africa is poised for a further crisis in girls’ education unless governments and partners act now.