Can you think of 50 children you know? Imagine if only 10 of them had the opportunity to go to school. You would be outraged wouldn’t you? But just imagine if only one of them managed to complete their primary school education. Well, that’s almost unimaginable, isn’t it? But this is the situation in Southern Sudan today. It has the lowest access to education than any other country in the world, with only 20% of children enrolling at primary school and less than 2% completing primary education. For girls, this figure is less than 1%. As a result 92% of southern Sudanese women and 80% of men are illiterate.

One of the reasons why primary school completion rates are so low is that there are so few school buildings. Only 15% of schools in southern Sudan have permanent classrooms and many are in the open. It cannot be under estimated how important the commitment and permanence of a school building is for morale and community confidence in education.

This is why there is such a desperate need for new education facilities. The newly formed Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) has made it a priority but they simply don’t have the resources to make any meaningful impact. GOSS are increasingly reliant on agencies and the church to try to fill the void, which is why EJT is working in partnership with the Episcopal Church of Sudan to build a primary school in Rokon.