Amid conflict and poverty, this school in South Sudan is an unlikely success

School buildings with mud walls and metal roofs, in which as many as 150 students compete for the attention of the teacher, make an unlikely setting for a South Sudanese success story. Many of the pupils crammed into the basic classrooms are in their mid-20s; others have fled conflict. Education, like everything else in the country, was left in disarray by the two civil wars that led to South Sudan’s independence just over three years ago, and has been further disrupted by the new internal conflict that broke out in December^[1]. But despite its many challenges, the Excel Academy, situated in the verdant town of Yei, near the border with Uganda, shows what can be achieved.

Like many of the systems set up in the rush to independence, education throughout South Sudan is a mishmash of ideals and the possible. Lessons often take place under trees if buildings are not available or in a good state. Retaining teachers is difficult, because salaries are low. Sometimes the pay packet comes late, too, the commissioner of Yei River County, Bidali Cosmas, admits, and often teachers “quit for more lucrative jobs in [foreign] NGOs”. Some schools sit the Ugandan Certificate of Education, others the Kenyan equivalent, although the plan is for every school to move over to the South Sudanese version. In 2013, its final year in the Ugandan system, the Excel Academy produced four of the top 10 students in the area.

The private school is run by Wani Kenneth Evans, a South Sudanese engineer who started as a bricklayer at another school project, and progressed up the ranks. The academy was founded in 2011, with ambitious goals. “We need to produce future leaders, people who can create and do something for this nation,” Kenneth says. Unusually, the 700 students come from all of South Sudan’s 10 states, and some even from neighbouring Sudan.

There is a particular emphasis on female students. Only one in six women in South Sudan can read or write, and many are not allowed to attend school. As one Excel Academy pupil wrote in an essay: “Owing to the lack of financial support, some of my parents [tried to] force me to marry but I refused because I want to continue with my education.”

An American NGO, Africa Education and Leadership Initiative^[2] (Africa ELI), sponsors outstanding students of both sexes, female students as long as they have reasonable grades, and refugees from the Nuba mountains in Sudan. Africa ELI’s Anita Henderlight says one reason her organisation chose to support students at Excel is simple: “The teachers come, they attend classes and they teach. I have found that in some schools it is difficult because they don’t receive salaries on time, and when that does not happen teachers are not motivated to show up. The administration here has made the teachers a priority.”

Science is considered vital at the school, and there is a basic laboratory. There is also a computer room, the only one in the county, even if the bulky desktops have clearly seen better days. The students are encouraged to take part in extracurricular activities, including voluntary cleaning of markets and hospitals, debate clubs and sports teams. At the journalism club, enthusiastic students practise interviewing each other. One segment, a detailed analysis of Arsenal’s recent loss to Chelsea^[3], attracts rapt attention, and cheers at the conclusion.

The young student who scientifically dissected Arsenal’s defensive ineptitude, Woja Emmanuel, is in his final year. He has thought about a business career, but is now considering other options. “I may decide to go for politics,” he says, “because in South Sudan many people do not have political ethics. Many people are illiterate, and we need to advocate good politics.” The war that broke out in December, the consequence of disagreements among the political elite, has affected the whole country, and Excel has not been exempt. The school had six students from the Nuer ethnic group, from which the rebel leader Riek Machar^[4] and most of his fighters come. One of the students was killed, and the other five have fled the country.

Among Excel’s refugees from the Nuba mountains is Nasser Ismail, who says: “We came to get knowledge. Secondary education has stopped because of the war. The [Sudanese government] planes come; they can even bomb your school, so the schools have closed.” He wants to return home after his studies, to help his area. In the meantime, he spends every holiday working on a building site to fund his school fees. The Nuba students are praised as hardworking; they led a campaign to get electricity installed on the school campus, so they could study in the evenings.

After Ghana became independent in 1957, boarding schools that took in students from all over the country were praised for developing an elite that looked beyond ethnic and regional divisions. It will be fascinating to see whether the Excel Academy, and others like it, can achieve something similar in South Sudan.

References

1. ^{^} internal conflict that broke out in December (www.theguardian.com)
2. ^{^} Africa Education and Leadership Initiative (africaeli.org)
3. ^{^} Arsenal’s recent loss to Chelsea (www.theguardian.com)
4. ^{^} Riek Machar (www.theguardian.com)