Hon. Minister for Education: No Country can develop unless its citizens are educated
6 min readA Letter of Protest to the Ministry of Higher Education: No Country can develop unless its citizens are educated.
By David Matiop Gai, Juba, South Sudan
February 1, 2016, (SSB) — In response to “government closes scores of higher learning institution”, announced by Eye Radio, and published by The Nation Mirror on Thursday 28th January 2016, page 4, volume No: 003, issue No: 035 in the Republic of South Sudan, I want to underline the fact that ministry of higher education is manipulating the mind of the public for no good reasons but the reality is still lying behind their continuous closure of the universities; because these universities were been there all along, they don’t operate in secret; they do their academic activities in a broad day light, and I believe the ministry is trying to tell the public in another way round that they have failed the process of how the universities are developed from nothing to something until the university become internationally recognized. Just find the history of Juba University after Addis Ababa peace agreement in 1972, how it was began and open?
But before I mention the content of my message, I want to say that education was the first priority on the top list of SPLM vision for the development of South Sudan. Now the SPLM Chairman and the President of the Republic Salva Kiir Mayardit is either to borrow God’s angels to come and serve his people and work for his government because during struggle Dr. John Garang knows South Sudanese very well and he said the prediction in 1986 ,“I have found somebody who can fight the war but I didn’t find somebody who can sacrificed him/herself to deliver services to the people,” he was referring this statement to General Kuol Manayang when Kuol adjust battalion of Koryom from indiscipline, otherwise civil servants in Kiir government these days become politicians and where will citizens get those who can sincerely deliver services to them inform of education and other social development? I don’t know what will Kiir say about them?
For this matter, I am here writing on the behave of suffering South Sudanese people who cannot afford to send their children abroad for further studies in the West or Asia and even nearest East African countries, I want to inform the ministry of higher education science and technology to avoid unnecessary closured of private and public universities if the spirit of closing universities in South Sudan has becomes a nature of the ministry!
Instead the ministry would have done lots to guide, rule, assists, and developed private and public universities, another ministerial order was heard on Thursday evening about initial closure of universities and followed by a serious directives of police to execute the order. Waau it is so great and sound funny indeed; it’s also become a destructives agenda, no progress but likely backward for the nation.
The reason why I said above President Kiir should either hired God’s angels to come and work in his government is because Salva Kiir has really suffered in the hand of his fellow South Sudanese men and women. When he assigns them to serve the public, they turned their back against the public and the president who choose them to do the work. Simply in 2012, the former minister of higher education Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba ordered the closured of 20 private universities and colleges whom he said they never met any requirements to become universities and placed them with nothing but later on he rebelled against the government in 2013. What next do you aspect an enemy within the system can do better to his enemies? Because we citizens are his enemies. In the same ministry where Dr. Adwok served as a minister and rebelled, he left his elements that can easily plays his vision and mission against the government and humble people of South Sudan. Again what good do you think it can come from them to the public than closing of the universities? The question is always ringing in the mind of citizens who have their children in South Sudan that, are these kinds of leaders who are needed to build our education sector and to foster services delivery inform of education to South Sudan societies and also leave behind them excellent ,and strong foundation to next generations? No I doubt myself. If they are very people with South Sudan in their heart, why do they fail to make little progress in education? Why are universities become problem to the ministry and the ministry becomes problem to universities?
In my first article in this year about “The Ministry of Higher Education, (Directorate of Private, Foreign and Philanthropic Institutions), and Process of Accreditation in South Sudan Private Universities,” I mentioned that if the ministry opted to shut down the universities, it also shut itself down, and I talked of four processes of accreditation such as registration, recognition, accreditation, and chartering for new universities as a law of how universities operate worldwide. I want to tell readers that nothing hard in universities accreditation, if I am assigning today in this education as a common citizen who have no bad intention against South Sudanese in general, within three-six months, one can see tangible changes and fastest development in this education.
Six public universities in South Sudan cannot take yearly intake of the entire nation. Between 2011 and 2012, Juba National University was the politics center for tribal politics and it was closed for time being. When the President assigns the nationalist Professor John Akec, and also academician, Juba University has now improve at least to highest level expected before. Thank to Professor John, these are leaders needed to serve South Sudanese today. If I were a president, this vice chancellor of Juba University should come as a minister of higher education.
In the final remarks, these issues of closing and politicizing education are dangerous gestures of another education marginalization. We fought Arabs in Khartoum because education was one of our struggles factor, because we were marginalized in education. Today some people want to marginalize us again in education and its need other South Sudanese to sacrifice and liberate their fellow South Sudanese from hand of other Bad South Sudanese who doesn’t want their nation to prosper in education. In Uganda, there are eleven (11) public universities and thirty (30) private universities, four (4) military universities and colleges, and other three (3) accredited degree – Awarding institutions. The total is forty eight (48) institutions of higher learning in small Uganda which South Sudan doubles three times, but these leaders just look with short sight at their feet. In Kenya, there are 22 public universities, 24 private universities, 7 other universities, 49 Technical, vocational, and trade schools, and 185 proprietary schools. The total number is 287 universities and colleges for Kenya, apart from secondary and primary schools. What a blessed nation in term of education!!.
The author is a Co-founder of National Mental Health Care Organization; he holds Bachelor degree in social work and social administration, Bachelor degree in Theology from CLT in Montana USA, and a fellow researcher. He can be reach at tonggaid551@yahoo.com/ davidmatiopgai@gmail.com.
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