Press Release
Minister inspects Primary Textbook shipments to Upper Nile State
Malakal, May 24, 2013 (SSNA) — During his recent visit to Juba the Minister for Education, Science and Technology for Upper Nile State Hon. Daniel Wuor Joak inspected a batch of 27 containers with reading materials awaiting further transport to Upper Nile State. The containers hold approximately 720,000 textbooks, teacher guides and readers destined for the primary schools and Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) centres located in 10 Counties in the State and the consignment is part of the national textbook distribution which will provide educational materials to roundabout 4.600 schools across South Sudan. The deliveries are funded by UK-Aid through their Department for International Development (DFID) and are an initiative of the South Sudan Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI).
In a prior meeting with representatives of DFID, officials of Charles Kendal and Partners, the company tasked with the distribution of the reading materials and the managers of Spedag, the logistics company responsible for the transportation of the materials, the Minister emphasized that Upper Nile State is in dire need of new textbooks. “Many of our schools don’t have suitable books and are in urgent need of the teaching materials”. Hon. Wuor Joak explained that his Ministry is restructuring the education sector so it will live up to the developing needs of the population in an independent South Sudan. The Ministry is especially focussing on teacher training programmes and creating adequate facilities for the schools
The Minister admired the quality of the books and praised the efforts made thus far but stressed that the rains will make the distribution to the schools in the water logged areas of the State very difficult and urged both companies to realize the deliveries as soon as possible. He offered the assistance of the Ministry to keep the books safely in the State Capital Malakal before their transfer to the Counties and Payams.
Hon. Wuor Joak took the opportunity to lobby DFID for assistance with teacher training programmes and the construction and renovation of school buildings in the State.
The national textbook distribution which started in December 2012, will supply all primary schools and ALP centres in South Sudan with textbooks, teacher guides and readers. The books, which cover the 5 core subjects, are the first revised textbooks that have been written and designed by South Sudanese educationalists for South Sudanese children under the current national curriculum. In total around 9.6 million books and readers will be distributed.
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For more information on the textbook distribution or requests for interviews please contact: Huub Gales / [email protected] / 211-(0) 955 05 33 77