Flooded plains of vibrant, green grass stretch to the horizon on either side of a mud track. The humidity is high in Pibor, but fails to stop children from running in every direction.

Due to rains, the area is cut off from outlying counties in Jonglei State for about nine months of the year. Despite the isolation, there is an air of optimism for improved development opportunities in the future.

The town is buoyed up by the recent signing of a peace agreement by the South Sudanese government with David Yau Yau’s South Sudan Democratic Movement – Cobra Faction (SSDM-cf) to create a Greater Pibor Administrative Area.

The County Commissioner speaks of recent, mostly Murle returnees to five payams (districts) in the area (Pibor, Gumuruk, Boma, Likongole and Barget). He says they currently number almost 26,000 individuals, with over half that number believed to be children.

Independence brought peace to the country, but Pibor continued to suffer from the effects of conflict, especially during 2012-2013. Prolonged battles erupted between SSDM-cf and Lou Nuer, with the population fleeing to neighbouring counties for refuge.

Now, the area is at stark contrast with several other states, where conflict has been raging since December 2013. Peace in Greater Pibor has allowed sizeable numbers of returnees to flow back into the area ahead of the rains. But what is there left?

The area invested little into infrastructure during the years of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with Sudan (2005-2011), or in the year before the fighting took hold in the region in 2012.

Still, Pibor once had 40 schools scattered over the payams, some hard-wall structures, others mud buildings and a few under the shade of large trees. The teachers were paid and children could learn.

Today, the region has only one school open -- Pibor Boys Primary School -- with a register of 872 children, including about 250 girls.

“The UN Security Council has tasked us through Monitoring Reports Mechanisms (MRM) to identify schools that are occupied by militaries/armed groups or IDPs (internally displaced persons),” says Bado Datar of the UNMISS Child Protection Unit.

“However, the situation in this area doesn’t show the bigger picture in this regard, as only three schools are reportedly occupied by military and others, when left empty, are being occupied by returnees,” he added. “The main reason for the schools to remain closed, totalling … 27 schools in the area, is due to disrepair, lack of infrastructure or … the absence of the teachers.”

To keep the area’s one school open, efforts are being made to supplement the work of the five paid teachers at Pibor Boys Primary School with volunteers.

In March, 26-year-old Mark Logcho was recruited while wandering through Pibor market after he returned to South Sudan from studies in Kenya. He is now working as one of 14 volunteer teachers providing English language education at the school.

“This one school can’t take the whole population, but I have a team that could do the work and I know of more potential teachers for the area,” Mr. Logcho said. “But the truth is we lack the [financial] support. If we can have help, we can do a lot for a lot of people, including the children.”

Girls in the primary school dream of a world where they have careers as teachers, bosses or agriculturalists.

One girl, Catherine, explained how she saw her future. “I would prefer to be at a girl’s-only school, as we are annoyed by the boys around us. Now I live with my brother and he keeps me safe. When I’m at school I worry about early marriage, as I will not be able to reach my job as a doctor if I do not study.”

Through militarization, occupation or attacks on schools, conflicts prevent basic education in this fledgling country, with children missing out on their right to primary school education once more.

Occupation of schools is just one of six “grave violations” often committed against children during conflict. The remaining are killing and maiming children, abducting or sexually attacking them, recruiting them into armed forces or groups and blocking humanitarian aid.

South Sudan has recorded violations of these perpetrated by both sides of the conflict.

The MRM is reporting on grave violations to understand the effect of conflict on children’s lives, which can in some cases lead to proof of crimes against humanity or war crimes.

“In brief, we are monitoring the effects of grave violations by the military forces or armed groups on the children,” said Mr. Bado Datar. “By naming the repeat offenders of armed forces or groups, it can lead to greater pressure to get them to do better by our work of amassing statistics that show the extent of their violations.”

Evidence of another of the six violations – child recruitment -- can also be found in Pibor. The town has a visible presence of boys wearing green military fatigues, with some carrying AK47s casually over their shoulders, mostly from SSDM-cf, but others were seen in SPLA uniforms.

To the credit of armed forces like SPLA pro-government, SPLA in opposition and now SSDM-cf, they have given their commitment to end further recruitment of children and want to actively ensure the release the children associated within their ranks.

Many reasons are cited for drawing children into the military, especially at a time of conflict. These include separation from parents or travelling with them in the military, needing food or clothes, protecting their communities from attack when men have left to fight, no other education/vocational training/employment prospects and the need to provide for others.

In South Sudan, it was possible for some children to go through part of their life as child soldiers and emerge relatively unscathed. For others, the experience led to reintegration opportunities in studies or relocation.

But reintegration prospects are difficult to enforce on a child who has obtained large sums of money and been exposed at length to brutalities on an unimaginable scale. Missing out on basic education or never receiving love within a family unit leave them scarred and unable to focus on other rehabilitation options.

For younger children, reintegration will generally involve school tuition, but teenagers may opt for more practical vocational training. The key focus for reintegration is to trace parents or relatives of children to give them a stable future back in their villages.

Unfortunately, South Sudan still lacks enough infrastructure or educational opportunities to make training available to all children on their return.

Currently, future prospects for children living in Greater Pibor are slim without any secondary education or vocational training options. Funding for state infrastructure is urgently needed to prevent further recruitment of under 18 year olds into armies and ensure education is a right that young children can realize without fear.