Schoolgirls in South Sudan | Credit | Girls Education South Sudan/GESS

The Girls Education South Sudan project,  which offers girls motivational cash, has been extended for another five years.

That’s according to the undersecretary at the ministry of general education.

Initiated in 2013, the project was expected to end in September this year.

“We have secured some money for phase two. This program will not stop; it will be on for another five years or more,” said Michael Lopuke.

The GESS is a program sponsored by the ministry of general education with funding from the UK government.

It is aimed at increasing the girls’ enrolment and keep them in school.

The project was first targeting 200,000 girls in upper-primary and secondary schools, but additional 300,000 girls have so far benefited from it.

“The money we secured is amount to 70 million sterling pound (92 million US dollar) from Britain,” added Mr Lopuke.

A recent report by the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children indicates that 2.2 million school-age children in South Sudan are out of school.

According to the study which was released earlier last month, approximately 75% of girls in the country are not enrolled in primary school.