Academics advise gov’t to invest in science education

While most countries around the world is running at a rocket speed with science education to catch up with the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 of producing well-educated citizens, South Sudan continues to lag behind due to a number of factors.

A number of educated moguls have abandoned noble teaching profession in search of a better pasture. This has interrupted the channel of transfer of knowledge, especially at public schools.

Mr. George Kenyi Wilson, the head teacher of Juba Day Secondary School, a government-owned institution, revealed that they only teach sciences as theory because they cannot afford to buy the materials for practical in the laboratory.

However, he said, 40 years ago when the school was still under the British rule, Juba Day Secondary was a force to reckon with when it comes to science education.

“Our government only provides salaries; the running cost of the school is paid by the Parents Teachers Association [PTA] who pays a small amount of money to help us run the school, of which we cannot force them because the government is there to provide free education. Most of our students are from poor families whom if we ask to pay money to buy reagents they may even drop out. Maintaining a laboratory is costly and government must invest in it immensely if science education is to be prioritized,” he said.

He added that what they always receive is from the development partners, saying to get the support the school has to provide a project suitable for funding. This, he said, makes achieving science education goal a pipeline dream. “For example, there is less budget that is allocated to education, how can we have better science education with a small budget of 5 percent.”

“The government only allocates 5 percent of the budget to education, not even science, 40 percent of the budget is channeled to security forgetting that education is the first security. If you have an illiterate population then you will always think of the gun as a priority but an educated society prepares one to use logic, this has been missing,” George lamented.

George called on the government to improve on education budget, if the country is to have an enlightened science community in South Sudan.

“We need to have a teachers’ convention on how to prepare the future of our children; conventions where we only talk about development of education system not a political conference. When we became independent, we are supposed to have a national conference on education to build the type of a country we want and it has never happened,” he advised.

He also noted with concern the idea of copying academic syllabus from neighboring countries even when it does not befit the national setting of South Sudan.

George said to have home-based solutions that suit the development, South Sudan needs to follow the path of science.

He appealed to privately-owned schools to take up the mantle if the government is not providing.

Mr. Willy Olanya Komekech, the Headteacher of St. Lawrence Secondary School, a privately-owned school in Hai Referendum, said they have decided to contribute to the development and transformation of society through science and technology.

He stressed that teaching science in South Sudan was arts in nature that makes it more complex for students to learn.

“For us at St. Lawrence, we want to create a difference, to make sure science is practically taught and that is why we came up with science laboratory and our learners are taught the theoretical and practical part to be competent scientists, who can be good engineers and good doctors for this nation,” he said.

Komakech added that in terms of content South Sudan is moving towards the best direction but called for need to change the overall dynamic to make the education system in the country powerful by applying the practical part of education system which is missing.

“If we are preparing our South Sudanese students to be able to compete not only in South Sudan but globally, the education system should be more effective with practical knowledge supported by an inclusive education system, and then the government should prioritize the teaching of sciences. If you want to prioritize the teaching of science you are looking at chemicals, equipment and apparatuses to enforce the theoretical learning and ensure that the examination body of the government starts to examine practical in the various subjects,” he explained.

He added that privately-owned schools face a lot of challenges when searching for quality education as they envision but always spend a lot of resources of the school which could be placed for developmental programs.

Komakech said if the government was to support all schools with better education system, they have to provide chemicals, reagents and apparatuses to produce competent professionals.

“When we talk about science and technology, we cannot put practical aside. Practical must be integrated and that’s what is missing. The curriculum is very good, the challenge is the practical bit. For us we have the necessary startup we shall use what we have to teach sciences,” he noted.