18 May 2012, Dhaka. The former United Kingdom Prime Minister and the Co-Chair of the High level panel on Global Education visited BRAC Community Girls School (CGS), funded by Comic Relief and Adolescent Girls Initiative (AGI), World Bank funded in his two days (11th and 12th May 2012) visit in South Sudan. The visit is a result of his interest to promote education in South Sudan after Kevin Watkins of the center for Universal education at the Brooking Institution wrote a report titled “Education in South Sudan, “investing in the better future” that was published aftermath of his review. BRAC South Sudan organised a sharing meeting with Education based INGOs & LNGOs with Hon, Gordon Brown and his team. BRAC South Sudan, Save the Children, Confident Child out of Conflict (A community Based organisation dealing with taking care of street children in Juba), Bari Community Association, BSF, Stromme Foundation, UNICEF, UNOPS,NRC and AET attended the meeting.
Hon. Gordon Brown Visited one Community Girls School (CGS) and witnessed adolescent club meeting at Hai Kugi, Gudele Juba County, in Central Equatoria state which located nearly about 7Kms away from Juba town. Positive impression were seen by the delegates after visiting one of the parents home and Hon. Gordon Brown donated some amount of money after finding the child sick for some days without any health attention.
Earlier this year the report published after the review of Hon Gordon Brown highlighted that,”Over one million children of primary school age are out of school. Enrolment rates in secondary education are below 10 per cent. In what is a desperate situation for all children, South Sudan’s girls face additional disadvantages. Just 6 per cent of 13 year old girls have completed primary school. So extreme are the gender inequalities that young girls in South Sudan are more than twice as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth as they are to make it through primary school and into secondary education”.
The report presented to the High level panel on Global Education identified the fund requirement totaling to $90 Millions to be given to four education partners in South Sudan of which BRAC South Sudan would require $40Miliion to Provide Primary education to 100,000 students within 4 years. During the meeting with the Minister of General education Joseph Ukel Abango and the senior Officials in the ministry, Hon Gordon Brown said that his country would help South Sudanese millions children had opportunity to education.
BRAC south Sudan has been operating education programme way back in 2008 up to current 6,750 students have been admitted to 225 Non formal primary schools (CGS).
