Some parents in Kapoeta town, Eastern Equatoria State, have resorted to contributing money to support the few teachers who are teaching their children at Kapoeta Day Secondary School.
Kapoeta Day secondary school is the only government secondary school operating in Kapoeta town, with only four teachers government payroll.
The other teachers had to leave for non-governmental organizations due to poor pay. This makes it difficult for the teachers to teach the four classes all the subjects.
Last week, some of the 185 students said they sometimes go for days without a lesson due to the lack of adequate teachers.
As a result, their parents decided to raise 20,000 Pounds per student – a one-off contribution that they believe will motivate the teachers to keep teaching.
“We decided to contribute money to the school so that our children keep learning, because if we do not do that, they will lose a lot,” said Salah Atilio, parent, told Singaita FM on Wednesday.
In February 2023, President Salva Kiir Mayardit ordered the ministry of education to implement free primary and secondary education policies in the country.
But Atilio argued that the government should have first recruited more teachers immediately after the declaration of free education.
“If the government was good, they would have brought us more teachers to teach,” added.
For her part, Mariam Juma said:
“We have decided, as the parents, to contribute money to support the teachers because we have heard a lot of cry from our children.”
The parents said the contribution of money to the school was better than to end their children to neighboring countries, where schools charge lots of tuition fees.