Education

The Impacts of Violence on Education in South Sudan

Year of Publication
2014
Document Publisher/Creator
Augustino Ting Mayai & Hollyn Hammond
Institution/organisation
The Sudd Institute
Topic
NGO associated?
Summary
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.
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Effectiveness of minimum quality standards for primary education in low and lower middle-income countries

Year of Publication
2019
Document Publisher/Creator
Hassan Ahmed
Institution/organisation
K4D (Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development)
Topic
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/14413
Summary
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.
Date of Publication
08/09/2020

Evidence on Efforts to Mitigate the Negative Educational Impact of Past Disease Outbreaks

Year of Publication
2020
Document Publisher/Creator
Joe Hallgarten
Institution/organisation
K4D (Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development)
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/15202
Summary
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.
Date of Publication
15/09/2020

Education and Armed Conflict in Sudan and South Sudan: The Role of Teachers in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building

Year of Publication
2019
Document Publisher/Creator
Anders Breidlid
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://dx.doi.org/10.22606/jaer.2019.43005
Summary
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.
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Date of Publication
11/12/2020

Enablers and Barriers to the Successful Delivery of Accelerated Learning Programmes

Year of Publication
2020
Document Publisher/Creator
Rachael Fitzpatrick
Institution/organisation
K4D (Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development)
Topic
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/15579
Summary
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.
Date of Publication
21/01/2021

The Language Policy in South Sudan: Implications for Educational Development

Year of Publication
2021
Document Publisher/Creator
Edward Yakobo Momo
Topic
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://www.csrf-southsudan.org/repository/the-language-policy-in-south-sudan-implications-for-educational-development/
Summary
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.
Date of Publication
17/02/2021