Inside secret weapon of excellence at Darling Wisdom Academy
The Darling Wisdom Academy has been in operation for only a few years in the education sector, but the facility is leaving imprints of success in the country’s performance chart by nurturing rich brains that lead in the country’s national examinations.
With a number of students angling for the top academic slots, this school has now become the dream of all the students, with the learners who sing the song of success on their lips each year as they dream of leading the entire nation.
In an interview with The City Review, the Director of Darling Wisdom Academy, Nobel Arem Riak, disclosed the secret behind his school’s meteoric rise to be among the best schools in the country, as well as the proper remuneration of teachers.
“When I started this school, I made a strategy not to employ anybody who was not qualified. All the teachers here are degree holders. But some schools are employing their former senior four. You see, there is a difference. Degree holders and senior four-leavers, when they deliver, they will not deliver the same. This is one”
The trick
Arem said that his school had employed highly educated teachers and paid them enough money to make them believe that the school was important to them and, consequently, their families.
“I motivated my teachers. The least [paid] person right now, as we talk, is paid SSP 100,000 and the headmaster is paid $1,000. That is the strategy of satisfying the staff. When the staffers are satisfied, they will do their best, “he explained.
“When you toughen the policies, they will follow because they know this job means a lot to them and their families. I pay them highly, I feed them, breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a balanced diet, and so they are happy. “
He proudly stated that their students were bound to attend lessons that started at 7:00 am and the teachers would promptly attend to them.
“Now I have toughened the policies. The lessons begin at 7:00 am and the last topic will be dropped at 4:00 pm. So, at 6:00 pm, our teachers are ready, our children are ready, and no lessons can be dodged. Those who fail are those who have not covered the syllabus, “he stated.
The director said that each time the school opens its three campuses, comprising secondary, primary, and nursery schools, they are flooded with learners within two weeks, to the extent that they are forced to tell the parents that there is no more space to accommodate learners.
Academic achievements
The school started in 2018, but according to Director Arem, the idea and construction started earlier in 2014. It was opened in February 2018 with all its three campuses of the nursery, primary, and secondary schools.
But in order to rise to the top of the discussion in Juba, the school dominated in national exams and produced a top-10 list of the best students. Three of the students succeeded with flying colours, with one being the second-best candidate.
Arem continued narrating that in 2019; the least performing student in the senior four examinations scored 80% but maintained the position of the second-best student nationwide.
In 2020, the school had two students in the top 10, with one as the fourth student nationwide, and the sixth, but two others appeared in top-20 the best students nationwide. Arem said they had 300 candidates awaiting senior four examinations and were hopeful, that they would do their best.
“Since we opened, we performed well by dominating the top-10. Our students are among the best in the country, and you know what, we have not done that yet, but this is what we are fighting for this time, “Arem said.
He said that their school had been winning the Olympian maths competition since 2019. Olympian maths was introduced by the University of Juba in 2019 for secondary schools to compete by sending five students every year.
“Since 2019 when they started we won it with the best boy, the best girl; and the best school coming from us. In 2020, when the same mathematic contest was repeated, we also won with the best boy, the best girl, and the best school from us. Recently, on Saturday last week, we won it for the third time,” he boasted.
“So, in the history of mathematics in South Sudan, we are the winners for three consecutive years and we are determined to take this mathematics contest for ten years.”
They said that in the primary eight Munuki mocks, their school performed well, with two pupils in the top-10, with the second-best pupil and the fourth-best pupil being from their school on Saturday last week,
Purpose of starting school
The director, who worked previously with the KCB bank as a manager, said that his dream of starting a school in South Sudan dated back to his school days.
Arem said the motive behind changing from his profession to education was to ensure that South Sudanese children are not taken outside the country but rather educated within the country to reduce the cost of school fees South Sudanese incur in the neighboring countries.
He stated that children who studied in foreign countries could forget their cultures, languages and that the costs were high for parents since some schools are paid in dollars outside the country.
“It is very expensive to maintain a child outside the country. It is also very expensive to look for dollars, and in terms of nationalism and patriotism, people always like where they grew up, and by so doing we will have weak nationalism in 20 years or 30 years to come because we will have a generation which will not love their country,” he stated.
“So, as a citizen, I said this was not right and the best thing was to build schools at a standard level at home. If the syndrome is being taught by foreigners, then we will bring them home to teach our children, like here I have brought most of the teachers who are Kenyans and Ugandans.”
