This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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TEREKEKA: After writing his English lesson in an exercise book, Joseph Durmg, 14, skips one blank page and scribbles the date and title of his next lesson, a Christian Religious Education lesson.
Next to him, in the humid, stuffy classroom air — with a population of more than five dozen – other pupils crowded at different desks, do the same.
Until now a majority of pupils in Terekeka County schools have had to make up for the lack of books by rubbing out the lessons of the previous class and re-using an exercise book – often their only book.
"Pupils in some schools are using one exercise book for all the subjects, whether five subjects, or the traditional eight subjects," Abraham Ladu Isaac, Education Director, Terekeka County, says. "This is a big problem: there are no shops, no books, no roads, even if parents wanted to buy books."
But an MTN initiative to impact education aims to help bridge this gap by distributing scholastic materials to schools in selected counties, starting with at least 100,000 books.
Terekeka Primary School, where pupils have now at least four exercise books each for all five lessons because of this initiative, represents an improvement.
At a school parade, on July 29, MTN staff slowly helped pupils to pencil their names on their brand new exercise books.
Around them, pupils wait patiently, each angling to be next in line to receive new books.
"We understand the challenges of education in South Sudan, where acquiring even the basic scholastic materials is really difficult," says Harriet Kuyang Mulukwat, the Corporate Affairs Manager.
"Just giving an exercise book or a few exercise books to a school going pupil can make a difference because without scholastic materials it is very difficult to go through school," she adds. "We hope that in future we’ll be able to give a lot more than books."
JUST A START
In Terekeka County's 53 schools, challenges remain, however. Even with exercise books, you can do only so much without equipping schools with other learning necessities, such as qualified, or even any, teachers.
"The more rural schools are suffering: no desks, no pens, no pencils, no desks – some pupils are sitting under the trees, on the ground – no chairs, yet we're one of the largest counties lacking human resources because of lack of education," Education director Ladu remarks, the weight of the tasks ahead visible on his slackened shoulders.
"The parents are very interested in education for their children, but they lack exercise books: Children are using one exercise book for eight subjects," he says.
"We need help from anyone who can help," he adds. "We used to have UNICEF helping, up 2010, but for a long time, we’ve not had any assistance."
To bridge one of the gaps, the county has imported teachers from Uganda.
"There are schools that don’t have enough teachers. That is why about 70 teachers were contracted from Uganda," County Executive Director J. Onyango says.
"These teachers we have contracted from Uganda are supposed to be paid by the community, but unfortunately, we are not able. We are now using the small county grants to support them."
The hope, administrators say, is that different interventions by different actors combined, will together bear fruit. Terekeka was best in Central Equatoria in the national primary exams.
As Onyango puts it, "The quality of education here is now becoming very, very good. In the last examination, Terekeka performed very well — something that was unexpected. I'm happy that Terekeka has contracted teachers from Uganda. The quality of education will improve further."
As he prepares for his next class, Durmg, a Class 8 pupil, reflects on how far they have come.
"Before independence, UNICEF gave us some exercise books and now MTN is giving us some more," he says, a fellow pupil standing next to him and clutching at a faded UNICEF school bag.
"I was using one book for English language studies, Christian Religious Education, and Science. At least I now have a book for every subject."
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