Gender Equity through Education in South Sudan

Monica Alual, a secondary school student in South Sudan's Lakes State, is leading the charge to educate her peers about early pregnancy and the importance of staying in school. Monica, who attends Rumbek National Senior Secondary School, was motivated by reading the Let's Talk booklet, a health awareness booklet she received as part of a scholarship package provided by GEE.

When GEE staff and local education officials visited Rumbek in October 2011, they discovered that Monica had been holding peer education sessions on the book with her classmates during lunch breaks. Monica, who dreams of becoming a lawyer, told GEE staff that early pregnancy is a major problem in her community and has led to high dropout rates in both primary and secondary schools. Since GEE's last visit to Rumbek, the pregnancy rate has decreased. In fact, during the fall 2011 term, there were no student pregnancies reported at Monica's school - a far cry from years past where approximately 10-15 girls would drop out each term.

GEE scholars are typically receptive to the health education messages contained in the Let's Talk booklet and often convene community learning sessions to spread the word to girls and mothers in their villages. Monica was extremely proactive, though, and it's evident that her efforts are having a significant impact.

Since our last update, a number of others like Monica have benefited from participation in the GEE program. Between April and June of this year, GEE delivered financial and material incentives to 252 students in secondary schools and teacher training institutes, served 4,331 students through improvement grants at their schools, and conducted leadership training for 67 state and county education officials.

GEE's activities have now come to an end, but the achievements of its beneficiaries are truly remarkable. Over the course of program, which began in late 2007, GEE has worked with local schools and education officials to deliver more than 9,500 scholarship packages -including over 8,000 to women and girls - and 20,000 learning materials throughout all ten states of South Sudan. Meanwhile, the capacity of local education stakeholders has improved significantly, with a number of South Sudanese education officials developing individual and state-level action plans as part of regional leadership trainings, and others delivering GEE-inspired mentoring workshops for secondary school teachers. Despite the formal end of its activities, GEE expects that South Sudan's education system will continue to improve through the dedicated efforts of stakeholders at all levels, from students, parents, and community members, to teachers and the South Sudanese government itself. Indeed, a South Sudanese state education official recently remarked: "Mentoring activities introduced in secondary schools in Jonglei State have improved the discipline of students, improved attendance in class, and made students knowledgeable about their body changes. This is a long-term investment in the secondary school system. We in the Ministry of Education will continue with this activity even after Winrock/GEE."