Rebuilding Higher Education in South Sudan
[MP3]https://server1.vnkienthuc.com/files/3/Media/se-ed-south-sudan-24feb11.mp3[/MP3]
This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
On July ninth, South Sudan [A]becomes[/A] the world's one hundred ninety-third nation. Almost ninety-nine percent of [A]voters[/A] last month chose [A]independence[/A] from the north.
South Sudan will also be one of the world's least [A]developed[/A] nations. This follows years of war and [A]neglect [/A]by the Sudanese government in Khartoum.
South Sudan is about the size of France. Yet it has only fifty [A]kilometers[/A] of good roads and almost no public electrical power or other basic [A]systems[/A].
Illiteracy rates are high. There are [A]estimates[/A] that more than eighty percent of the [A]population[/A] cannot read or write.
There are five universities. Three of them moved their [A]operations[/A] to the north during the war. The southern government has [A]brought[/A] most of the students back.
Officials estimate that about twenty-five thousand students have registered at the five [A]universities[/A]. Classes were supposed to start in April. But the Ministry for Higher Education in the south has now moved the [A]opening date[/A] to the middle of May.
The government pays for food and [A]provides[/A] housing for students. But higher [A]education[/A] minister Joseph Ukel says finding enough space was one reason for the delay.
Another issue is money. The government in Khartoum will pay for the schools until July. Mr. Ukel says the southern government's proposed [A]budget[/A] for this year does not include any money for the universities.
Then there is the problem of teachers. Almost seventy-five percent of the [A]lecturers[/A] are from the north. They are not likely to travel to the south to [A]continue[/A] teaching for their schools.
Mr. Ukel says his ministry has asked southern Sudanese teachers outside the country to return.
JOSEPH UKEL: "Their [A]problem [/A]was, what do you give us by way of carry-away salaries? That became our problem."
William Deng heads a [A]commission[/A] supervising the return of ninety thousand former fighters to [A]civilian[/A] life. He says most of the soldiers who have come out of the [A]southern[/A] army need education and training.
WILLIAM DENG: "The skill they only know is soldiering. Now, you must train them with life [A]skills[/A], such as carpentry, making bricks and also small [A]agriculture[/A], or micro-financing."
Only four percent of good land in South Sudan is being [A]farmed[/A]. Millions of people need food aid to [A]survive[/A]. The head of Juba University, Aggrey Abate, says his school can play a big part in training agricultural specialists.
AGGREY ABATE: "Agriculture is a very[A] important[/A] area. And we, as an institution, will have the role of [A]producing[/A] those who will come out and work in the [A]agricultural sector[/A], in terms of the necessary [A]interventions[/A] that need to be made to improve our food security."
