The high illiteracy rate in South Sudan is a major brake on social, health and economic development. The project aimed to increase the availability and quality of education for both children and adults. It ran from November 2010 to February 2012 and focused on the renovation of the Don Bosco Bakindo Primary School in the village of Manguo and on improving the educational opportunities the school could offer.
The dilapidated parts of the school were replaced by two newly built classrooms, a staff room and an office. The poor sanitary situation around the school was tackled with newly built toilets for the pupils. Separate blocks for girls and for boys are helping to improve girls’ school attendance. Thanks to the classrooms being fitted out with school desks and benches, pupils no longer have to sit on the ground or on stones and branches brought in from outside. After lessons, various extracurricular activities were organized for the children, and several children’s camps were held during the holidays. In the 2011 school year (from March to December), more than 600 pupils studied at the school and a further 100 at the associated kindergarten. In December 2011, 21 eighth-graders sat their final examinations to complete primary school.
The pressing problem of the shortage of qualified and motivated teachers was addressed by providing training courses for teachers. The project also helped raise adult literacy through evening literacy courses for adults held in the newly built classrooms, which had been equipped with electric lighting. The project was supported from the state budget of the Slovak Republic through the official development assistance programme SlovakAid with a contribution of €162,115.20.
