According to Dr Kuyok Abol Kuyok, South Sudan’s drive for education has yielded a significant milestone, with these two states, girls’ enrollment now outnumbers boys’, marking a major success in widening access to basic education.

The Minister highlighted this achievement at the Derik Cultural Festival in Juba on Monday.

Dr. Kuyok noted that nationwide primary school enrollment has increased nearly tenfold since 2005. Crucially, the data shows an impressive reversal of gender disparity in certain regions.

“In some states, like Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Western Equatoria, you’ll find more girls than boys in primary school. So it’s 51 % girls and 49 % boys in these two particular states.”

Despite this encouraging data, Dr Kuyok warned that the progress is severely undermined by poor retention rates in subsequent educational stages.

“The problem is that when they transition to secondary education, we experience a huge dropout for girls when they go to secondary education. So only 18 % of girls who start school today would finish their secondary education…”

The Minister attributed the sharp dropout rate to deeply rooted cultural beliefs and societal expectations that prioritize girls for domestic work and dowry over continued education.

Dr. Kuyok concluded by urging the entire community, including men and women, to actively advocate for girls’ continued education to ensure that compulsory secondary education is secured for all.