Governor Comes To School’s Aid in Southern Sudan

Lakes State Governor Engineer Chol Tong Mayay last week donated food and cash to Rumbek Senior Secondary School after students threatened to stage another protest over the poor living conditions in the school.

Mayay donated 200 bags of sorghum, two bulls and 20,000 Sudanese Pounds in cash to the school administration.

He told the students that he was ready to accept any criticism against his government over the situation but assured the students that he will do everything to improve education standards in the state.

Mayay advised the students not to destroy the school, which he said is a symbol of South Sudan’s leadership.

“I want every student to make history here like your leaders at the top who are now advocating for your rights in both the Government of National Unity and at the Government of Southern Sudan level. This school has always produced heroes of peace and war”, he said.

The Governor explained that the successful functioning of the school would be for the good of the state, while admitting that the state suffers from lack of human resources.

He said that the school has the potentiality of producing government officials to replace those in government offices who, he revealed, do not know how to write reports.

“There are people now sitting in offices here in this state assuming to be big bosses while they don’t know how to read or write. They are giving the state government such a bad image. I will deal with this issue during my term and ensure that only qualified and competent people are put in the right offices”, he said.

He advised the students to learn to resolve problems through dialogue and compared them to Members of Parliament who sit to debate on issues for the interest of the communities.

Rumbek Senior Secondary School is famous for producing such key South Sudanese political leaders as the late SPLM leader Dr John Garang, South Sudan Legislative Assembly Speaker James Wani Igga, Samuel Aru Bol and many others holding senior positions in the present government.

However, the school has been hit by a severe lack of learning and accommodation space following high students’ intake.

A temporary solution to solve the problem has been put in place where morning and evening classes will be conducted at the school.

Early this month the students went on strike over shortage of classrooms, food and lack of teachers in the school.