Education in South Sudan: A venture at stake under Dr. Adwok Nyaba BY: Ruei Hoth GONY KUOK, SOUTH SUDAN
MAY 16/2012, SSN; The Hon. Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba, ordered the closure of private Universities in the Republic of South Sudan, a month later after closing the only Public University in the capital of the Republic, Juba University. The issuance of orders for the closure of all private universities in the Republic of South Sudan by the Hon. Minister, Dr. Aduok Nyaba has not come as a surprise to many Southerners who know pretty well from the very time Aduok was appointed as the Minister of Higher Education that such acts will crop in his mind and at any one morning wakeup. It has been clear that he will deem the education on this land as a “doom.” On the afternoon of May 10th, 2012 in a public media conference, Dr. Aduok dressed in his normal suits and tie boldly announced the closure of 22 out of 23 private universities in South Sudan, basing his arguments on few mere major reasons such as lack of 25 Kilometer square of land, requirement of an account with $1.5M for International private Universities, and SSP 1M for national private Universities, inadequate pay for lecturers, lack of recreational facilities, incompetency of lecturers, and low qualifications of students. As the citizens of this nation, let's qualify these arguments in turn: I, like many other South Sudanese whom I know, for 5 years have been struggling to get a 4 x 8 M space to construct a room for our children, but all in vain. For Christ's sake, where in Juba would a private institution get that land of 250 Sq KM? Juba University in its current vicinity does not even occupy a land of 5 x 5 square Kilometer of land. How do you expect a crawling baby to pick its napkin from a cloth peg, 1 foot above it? Out of 23 higher institutions in a private market, won't it have been better had the Minister suggested to them to merge and make Six (6) complete major private universities? To put things in reality, who would have been happier to receive such adventure of private institutions in South Sudan more than Dr. Aduok Nyaba? This would have been counted as some of his achievements had he developed and groomed them to help in developing our human resources. It’s worth mentioning still that it’s the duty of the minister to allocate these institutions some pieces of land. He might then possibly request them to meet the costs which the communities may require because the land belongs to the community. Bulk amount of dollars and pounds in the Universities` accounts; we have seen V8's, range rovers, Cadillac's, Celica's, name it, on our roads. Are these trucks here for the better or for worse? I believe for worst because where else shall we dispose them off when we don’t need them anymore? Has the Government ever inquired where these “Toons” got the funds for purchasing these luxuries? No. Why then require an enormous amount of USD 1.5M from an investor who is doing a service to you? Mr. Nyaba, may I make you aware that the students in these private Universities pay their school dues in South Sudanese pounds. Where then do you expect them to get USD 1.5M in the University accounts? To make it clear, these Universities have no backup from the “Big Guns” in our Government with huge dollar accounts. They get their funds from the ordinary South Sudanese studying there. Economics-wise, aren’t they doing development by investing within the borders of our nation? For sure, they are the only investors working so hard to develop our country's human resources. They are not importing nor exporting any currency. Most of our Government officials have their children studying in foreign countries. That means, they are exporting the last dollar left by the closure of our oil pipe line. Where then can they get dollars? These peasants without relatives in big Government positions have invested every piaster they received from their meager pay to receive education at higher levels. Now that you are depriving them of their rights, how are you intending to compensate them? How long are the current Doctors and Ph.D holders in our Government going to live? 60 years, or may be 90 years? Being a patriot is not by making decisions solely, but by embracing the little man in your country. Why should you know how much a university has in the account? It’s a business entity that provides services under pay. Won't it be better if you just request them to have the curriculum materials available to the students no matter how small their spaces are? Quality is measured by the amount of services already provided and enjoyed, not by physical assets or white big houses on top of the hills of Nimule. Lecturers` pay should never, even if given an opportunity to talk about, at your level of leadership, be heard from your office. This, we have seen an overlap of TORs in our Government's offices. There seems to be no clear line of management here. If the private Universities lecturers have complaints, they should go to Labor office, which is an independent body to handle this. Could this be a reason any way to announce the closure of an institution by your office? No. And what about withdrawing licenses, do you have the right to order the Ministry of legal affairs and constitutional development to do so? The Judiciary is an independent and the highest office in any Government that only listens and does not receive orders. Lecturers from the private universities never strike like those in public universities. Lack of recreational facilities should never be an issue if our Hon. Mr. is a man of the people for the right office with clear TORs. Mind you, Mr. Nyaba, that the primary aims of these students in the private universities is not to run around and develop athleticism nor becoming sportsmen. They are very responsible students at higher offices in Government and big agencies. Their aim is to acquire quality education. Coupled with the issue of land and the current economic situation in South Sudan, when would such facilities be completed if not education first? Hon. Mr., you have just closed Juba University due to improper practices from soccer field sportsmen at Juba University. Don’t you think these kinds of activities cause idleness? The students of private universities are after education, they are very responsible as compared to Juba University students who take “black tea” from sunrise to sunset under trees and uncompleted buildings. They get engaged in talking about politics and abuse politicians rather than studying with interests and finding ways to lead the land. Instead of encouraging private institutions, you are demoralizing education. Isn’t that dooming education in south Sudan? Many students currently studying in private universities intentionally did so because of undervaluing the educational curriculum of Juba, Wau and Upper Nile Universities. It’s never fair for a student to have more knowledge than the lecturer. Expressing oneself is more important than having the knowledge whilst you cannot express it. The lecturers of private universities are very qualified. Pick one at random, get his documents and test his/her ability to defend his/her academic documents, knowledge and experience. The students too should be in that line of random selection. I believe they are all qualified and that’s why they are doing very well in their work places. Mr. Nyaba, aren’t they doing a service already to the country than your students of Juba, Wau and Upper Nile Universities? May I as well make a point of correction to Mr. Nyaba`s greedy move of overtaking other offices` work. Who in the first place was to announce to the public the closure of the private Universities? Wasn’t it supposed to be the Minister of information and broadcasting, Dr. Barnaba Marial? Aduok`s office was tasked by the Government to evaluate the private institutions to find out their worth of providing quality education to South Sudanese. I believe his work was to know what they have and what they don’t, then give comments about his findings, present the findings to the parliament with recommendations who would then know what kind of decision to make. It was not a bad move to accreditate the private institutions, however, such Hon. Members like Aduok Nyaba, should be shown the exit before they cause further mess to our Government's offices. To all South Sudanese affected by Dr. Aduok`s self and ambiguous decision on the closure of private institutions, please let’s give time to our Hon. Members in the parliament to make their decisions. They will make the right decisions I believe because we chose them, than the Hon. Minister who was fluked in. For further clarifications about this piece of writing, the writer is a South Sudanese living in Juba and can be reached: [email protected] or call 0955 123 473 COMMENTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author(s) and do not represent those of the website. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. 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