The high number of children out of school has prompted the South Sudanese government to act. Speaking at a national consultation conference on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) related to education, the Minister of General Education and Instruction promised more schools and teachers for the worst-affected areas.

Minister Deng Deng Hoc Yai singled out the former states of Eastern Equatoria, Warrap, Northern Bahr el Gazal, Lakes, Unity and Jonglei as the parts of South Sudan where the need for more schools and teachers is greatest.

“Over the next five years we need to focus our efforts on those states where there are high concentrations of children out of school. We need to construct more schools and recruit more teachers and supply more text books (there)”, the Minister affirmed.

His remarks were made in the context of a three-day conference discussing solutions to the challenges facing the education sector to achieve the ambitious targets stipulated in SDG 4.

The Sustainable Development Goals are a number of global objectives to be reached by 2030. Goal number 4 is the one related to education, and is broken down into ten specific targets for the sector. Eliminating gender disparities, ensuring universal and free access to quality primary and secondary education and eradicating illiteracy among the youth are among those noble benchmarks to be achieved.