AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN – School instruction during emergency situations a basic humanitarian necessity

Juba (Agenzia Fides) – In South Sudan school instruction for girls is particularly difficult: early pregnancies or marriage, poverty and gender discrimination prevent many girls from regular attendance at school. Fighting in the country since 2013 worsened the situation. Official figures speak of more than 2 million internally displaced persons or refugees in bordering countries, besides 13,000 boys recruited by armed groups and 200,000 who never go to school. Before the crisis, about 57% of minors in South Sudan did not attend school.
Among initiatives to tackle this dramatic situation, Spanish backed Plan International project called “The Right to Choose”, aims to improve the life and the future of 20,000 children mainly in the regions of Juba, Lainya and Yei in Central Equatoria, one of South Sudan’s ten governorships.
The project, launched in 2012 to increase the number of children attending school and reduce cases of forced marriages and pregnancies among adolescents, aims also to help boys and girls understand their rights and learn to defend them. A second aim is to change social behaviour which prevents school progress, helping parents improve their knowledge and help their children. “The Right to Choose” project helps girls forced into early marriage to return to school and continue their studies. Education in emergency situations is a basic human right which offers physical and emotive support when it is most essential. It offers stability, safety and hope for the future. (AP) (24/7/2015 Agenzia Fides)