UK Director General visits New Generation School in South Sudan

04:21 PM March, 07 2016

Sudanese Online
SudaneseOnline News-Khartoum Sudan
My Library
Short URL



“We welcome you to our school, we welcome you to our school…” rang out in Juba, Hei Jebel East on Friday morning, as students of New Generation Primary School sang a greeting to their guest from the United Kingdom.

Mr. Nick Dyer, Director General for Policy and Global Programmes at the UKAid Department for International Development (DFID) was visiting Juba, to see in person the programmes currently funded by UKAiD in South Sudan. One such programme is Girls’ Education South Sudan (GESS), which provides funding to New Generation Primary School in the form of GRSS, Capitation Grants and DFID direct Cash Transfers to girls.

The New Generation School, was built in 2013 by displaced people from the Murle community in Jonglei state and continues to be supported by the parents and community today. Students now live in a local IDP settlement community.

Mr. Dyer spent time with some of the 52 girls who were enrolled at New Generation last year and who qualified to receive payment under the annual Cash Transfer to Girls initiative. In October, with the help of GESS and state implementing partner, Stromme Foundation, each qualified girl at New Generation School received 320 SSP (total 16,640 SSP) to help meet the cost of attending school. Financial obstacles are one of the challenges that keeps many girls out of the classroom. The girls, told Mr. Dyer about their school, what they purchased with the money and their hopes for the future.

Mr. Dyer also met some of the teachers and administrators who showed him the new multi-purpose classroom and water tank that were funded with some of the 16,700 SSP the school was approved to receive in GESS Capitation Grants last year.

Capitation Grants are funds available to all schools in South Sudan (including government, community, faith-based/church and low cost private schools) so that more girls and boys go to school, stay in school and achieve in school. The money can be spent on investments to the quality of education in schools, such as teachers’ guides, reference books, and science and maths kits. A portion of the funding can also be used to pay for physical improvements including classroom supplies, repairs, and maintenance and also on general school support such as incentives for volunteer teachers, uniforms for needy children, and school meals.

Capitation Grants fit together with Cash Transfers, which in 2015 helped 115,000 girls who were enrolled and attended regularly – the UK funded effort paid out more than 32 million SSP in total to qualified girl students across the country.

Toward the end of the visit, Mr. Dyer told the school administrators and family members gathered that he was truly moved by what they had accomplished saying “You have made a good start, you have books, you have classrooms, you have water and you have teachers under such difficult challenges” and he urged them to continue to take the necessary steps to ensure they continue to qualify for assistance through the UK and Government of the Republic of South Sudan funded programme.

The GESS programme’s multi-faceted approach to tackle financial, cultural and quality barriers to education, aims to transform a generation of South Sudanese girls by increasing access to quality education. The programme is funded by the UK Government, supporting the programme with £60 million towards fulfilling its objectives. GESS works in partnership with the Government of the Republic of South Sudan which funds Capitation Grants to primary schools.

Topics related to the subject or the author

• Reactions to Al Bashir’s speech on Sudanese Independence Day
• Sudan’s National Dialogue ‘to be concluded in January’
• Al Bashir offers ceasefire, amnesty for rebels in Sudan's dialogue
• Security bans political event addressed by Sudan's PCP
• Sudan’s opposition accept AU invitation, PCP declines
• Sudanese fatwa forbids vote for Al Bashir
• Students protest in Dongola, northern Sudan
• Freedoms severely curtailed in Sudan in 2014: Amnesty
• Sudan opposition leader defends women rights
• Al Bashir’s speech setback for National Dialogue: Sudan opposition

Arabic Forum