The Ministry of Higher Education has turned four public learning institutions to polytechnic institutes to offer vocational skills to young people in the country.
Polytechnic is an institution of higher education offering courses at degree level or below, especially in vocational subjects.
The four polytechnic schools will be located in the state capitals of Western Equatoria, Unity and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states.
The institutes shall offer courses on petrol and gas, food security, mining, engineering and health sciences respectively.
Dr. Sisto Otim, the Director General at the Ministry of Higher Education and Science and Technology says all these institutions will be looking at the technical aspect of those fields.
“We have four institutions which we have deliberately moved from being called universities to polytechnics so that these institutions stand there and work at supporting technical education,” Dr. Otim said.
“They are Bentiu Polytechnic which will be dealing specifically with Petrol and Gas, we have Western Equatoria Polytechnic that will be dealing clearly with Food Security.
“We have Torit Polytechnic that will be dealing with Mining and Engineering, and we have Northern Bahr el Ghazal Polytechnic that will be dealing with Health Sciences.”
According to a report, South Sudan has an estimated 351 technical and vocational training centers across the country.
Among these, only 13 are under the Ministry of General Education – with some of them established by the regional government after the 1972 Addis Ababa peace agreement.
But a number of them have reportedly collapsed during the decades of the Sudan civil war.
Other vocational training centers are run by non-governmental and faith- based organizations.