Gov’t threatens to shut down schools over failure to respect COVID-19 measures

JUBA – South Sudan government has threatened to shut down schools that fail to adhere to health measures put in place to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic in the country’s capital Juba.

The threat came following reports that most schools in the country’s capital are not observing COVID-19 preventive measures of wearing face mask, keeping social distances and washing of hands frequently.

Deputy Minister of General Education, Martin Tako Moyi warned schools administrations against putting the lives of children at risk.

“We in the Ministry of General Education and Instruction led by Awut Deng Achuil and all of us in that Ministry are determinate, one either the schools abide by the instructions we give or we close down the school because we can’t joke with lives of our children,” he was quoted by SSBC saying.

The government official blamed schools managements for failing to leave up to their duties.

“The report we have here is just terrible, I mean the children coming to schools without facemask. What is our interest? Just getting money from the school fees, is that our priority? It appears we have taken money to be the first thing in our lives and that the lives of our children does not matter much as long as we have the money,” Moyi expressed.

Tako described teachers who are not administering discipline in their various schools as bad educators.