Shortage of Teachers Hampers Quality Education in Pibor

JUBA – A severe shortage of qualified teachers has hit public schools in South Sudan’s Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPA), threatening the quality of education, local official said.

Speaking to the Sudans Post in an interview on Friday, GPA Minister for Education, Gabriel Ngamakori said the dire situation leaves hundreds of children without access to quality education.

“The most difficult factor here is the shortage of teachers, more specifically in the secondary school, because we have few teachers in the primary education. The problem is science subject teachers,” said Ngamakori.

He said that a number of factors are endangering the standard of education in the region, including insufficient training for teachers, delayed teacher salary arrears, inadequate infrastructure, and persistent instability.

He disclosed that the majority of teachers in the area quit the teaching profession in search of better opportunities due to poor working conditions.

“Enrolment in the first term is very high, but when you come to the second term and final term, you see that the number of pupils is dropping, and we are trying to find out what is the factor that led to school dropout,” he said.

According to the education official, the ministry is making every effort to enhance the administrative area’s educational system and instruction.

He claimed that although enrollment was high in the first term of last year, the majority of students left school in the second and third terms due to subpar learning.

There are just two schools in operation in Pochalla and Pibor center, he said while adding that the majority of the schools in the area shuttered because of unfavorable working conditions.