Kuyok Abol Kuyok, Minister of General Education and Instructions, speaks with Eye Radio on September 6, 2024 - Photo Credit: MosesAwan/Eye Radio

The Ministry of General Education and Instruction has announced an increase in registration fees for the 2025 primary school exams, in an effort to reduce delays in the release of exam results.

Simon Nyok, the Secretary-General of the National Examinations Council, said candidates in public primary schools are now required to pay SSP 80,000, while those in private primary schools will pay SSP 120,000.

Nyok said the revised registration fees have been approved and will be implemented immediately.

“The fees that have been approved is that in public primary schools, every candidate pays an amount of South Sudan Pound 80,000 only. And in private primary schools, every candidate pays an amount of South Sudan Pound 120,000. These are the statutory fees that have been approved and rolled out for the registration of primary school’s exams,” he said.

According to Nyok, the funds collected will cover nearly half of the estimated cost of running the 2025 exams. He added that the plan is part of efforts to ensure results are processed and released within 45 days, in line with legal requirements.

“So the money that we are going to charge will actually cover almost half of the amount that has been projected to run the examination of 2025 exams.

“So, this is the strategy we put in place and we are optimistic that if this money is collected and put into that central bank and depending on availability of cash, also the same of the exam of secondary education. If the exam is administered in December, it takes another 45 days to complete the process of processing the results,” he said.

In 2023, then Minister of General Education Awut Deng Acuil instructed officials to stop collecting fees in public schools, saying it violated President Salva Kiir’s directive on free education.

However, the directive has seen little progress, as exam results continue to be delayed, fees are still collected in public schools, and payment of teacher incentives remains inconsistent across the country.