Fourteen South Sudanese female students have attained Master’s degree from the Indiana University in US under an initiative to promote gender equality.

The one-year program was supported by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID.

The students were awarded the degrees in the field of education. Eye Radio spoke to some of them on their arrival in Juba.

“I am going to work in the education sector,” said Akwero Christine. “I will be working in the university and at the same time I will be working with community, mostly in the grassroots level especially with the issues of women and girl child.”

For her part, Betty Irene said: “our studies in the United States has been so good and we returned home really to work hard and give the knowledge we learned.

Only 27% of the population aged 15 years and above is literate, with significant gender disparities: the literacy rate for males is 40% compared to 16% for females, according to the UN.

The graduates are thought to help fight high illiteracy among women.