Honorable Minister of Education Dr. Gai Yoah, hiring 20,000 teachers from Zimbabwe is a misplaced priority
Honorable Minister of Education Dr. Gai Yoah, you are a man that I dully respect for your tireless improvement of the Ministry but why are you going for non-issues again: Hiring 20,000 teachers from Zimbabwe is a misplaced priority.
By Tito Awen Bol, Nairobi, Kenya
February 14, 2016 (SSB) — Sincerely, I am among the few who don’t like alluding politics with economics and education (science & technology and agriculture ), because any political entity that need to look at the interest of the present generation and that of the next generations can be considerate of all these outside the political box, hence no need to politicize these sectors. In line with that piece, I need to warn my beloved readers that I am not writing for any political faction or party (be it President Salva Kiir, First Vice President Riek Machar, SPLM Secretary General-Paga’an Amum or the leader of the Alliance of the opposition parties-Lam Akol.) Truly I am writing for the nation especially the innocents that are never enlightened of what is happening except what happened; which is always political.
In real sense, I am among the few who like giving credit to the owner at anytime. Ministry of Education have been trying from scratch to a little bit somewhere beginning from the days of Joseph Ukel Obango and Prof.Job Dhurai Malou when S.Sudan was still part of Sudan to the days of Prof.Adwok Nyaba when we were transiting from Sudan to South Sudan, and finally to the days of Dr.Gai Yoah whom in his time; our students are getting a lot of scholarships from the Countries like Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Sudan, Turkey and Malaysia. Let me begin by congratulating the Honorable Minister Dr.Gai Yoah for such achievements (Note: I am not talking of allocation of scholarship slots because I consider them to have gone for South Sudanese regardless of fairness or otherwise of it.) Again let me also appreciate and congratulate the governments of the Countries above for having been supporting us through such scholarships and I am in a position that they deserve benefits in our bilateral relations in a way that cannot harm us in return as a nation.
In fact I have been battling with my mind of whether I can write or not after reading the article on Sudan Tribune concerning the “20,000 teachers.” This is because I always like reserving but at last; I found myself defeated by my mind and I concluded that I should write a piece. Why did my mind defeat me when I always defeat me brain and remain reserved? This is because even if I keep quiet, there will come a time when I will inherit this ‘wrong’ like the other ‘wrongs’ that we young people have inherited inevitably from our top political generation, thus I better speak out so that I have reference of my own to the next generation.
Do we need foreign teachers in South Sudan? Yes, by profession we need education professionals in form of educational experts who can help us in strengthening the Curriculum Development Policy and strengthening our Curriculum Development Centre in Western Equatoria. Therefore, if the digit two and zero is a requirement for Zimbabwe, then we only need 20 or 200 educational experts from Zimbabwe than those thousands that will scoop and milk our sick economy dry when we have better alternatives within!
As I said earlier that hiring 20,000 is a misplacement of priorities, here are the priorities that our Ministry and our Great Minister should focus on:
First priority, our certificates (South Sudan School Certificates, except for Sudan School Certificates), are still being rejected in most of East African Universities with citation that “your Country do not have Curriculum,” and indeed we don’t have curriculum except for Primary School Education. So I believe our priority is to develop and strengthen the curriculum so that it can be recognized by UNESCO and subsequently other Countries. So, even if we bring Americans or Russians to teach and our certificates are rejected afterward in the other worlds of education then what have we spent for as a nation?
Second priority, is to set a good payment for the teachers through a drafted bill; and stand strongly in the council of ministers so that it can be passed and forwarded to the parliament for deliberation. When it is passed and signed into law later, you will see the young turfs that have gone for green pastures in NGOs coming back. It is a known fact by everyone that government job has security unlike contractual jobs in NGOs but where are those jobs for the willing nationals? Hmmmm…I know most of the government officials like citing “no budget,” ok; did I not read that those Zimbabweans are to be paid in International standards-specifically in dollars? If yes, why do we leave our educated young ones in Juba, Malakal, Aweil, Yambio, Rumbek, Torit, Bortown, Bentiu, Kuajok, Wau, Abyei and in Diaspora and go for foreigners? Economically, this money when given to the nationals can keep circulating within the boundaries of our economy than daring on the financial out-flow while we already have what we want within! Why do we like underestimating our strength when all nations value their Human Resource within the Country? For the last eleven years since the autonomous government to independence, do we still think that we have no enough educationists/educationalists in the Country?
Third priority and final, is to strengthen our few Education Colleges like the ones in Equatoria, Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile and; open more Colleges even if it means encouraging competitive private investors. This will help to produce middle education cadres that would be teaching in Nursery, Primary and secondary levels.
When I was admitted at Juba of University in 2010 where we started our studies in 2011 after independence (I resigned my admission later for studies in Kenya), most of the students who were admitted that year in University of Juba, University of Upper Nile, University of Bahr el Ghazal, University of Rumbek and subsequently later; Dr. John Garang Memorial University were taking Education leave alone those who were admitted for education before in those mentioned Universities and those who were taking education abroad (I am not even bothered to mention early educationists.) Do we mean that they are wrongly educated or do we really see the deficit when we have never seen mass employment of our local education graduates?
In conclusion Honorable Minister, if my ears ‘talked’ to me well, I have heard that you will be coming to Kenya within this month and in the process meet South Sudanese students, kindly and humbly if so, please answer these three questions during that session:
- In this context, why does South Sudan undermine its Human Resource when many Countries give value to their own?
- Why do you think there is need to hire 20,000 teachers from outside when our educated youths are roaming the streets of our cities and?
- After hearing the public (especially the youths) uproar on the recruitment of foreign teachers, do you still need to implement the move or you will respond to the people’s demand by only hiring the experts?
Writer is a concern South Sudanese student from University of Eldoret and can be reached on: awenbol2007@yahoo.com
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