Girls in Magwi County are unable to receive motivational cash due to insecurity in the area, the Minister of Education in Imatong has said.

The money is paid to girls each year as an encouragement to the parents to keep the children at school.

The objective of the program, known as Girl Education in South Sudan (GESS), is to eliminate barriers to girls’ education and promote gender equality throughout the education system.

Each girl in upper primary and secondary school gets 2,300 pounds.

“We’ve not implemented it in Magwi up to now, not because the money is not there but to reach Magwi with this money is also risky to our people,” Hassan Urbano said.

In May, the SPLA clashed with an armed group in Magwi area in which two people were reportedly killed and hundreds of civilians were displaced as a result.

The security advisor of Imatong, Joseph Abulemoi, said authorities have been engaging with arms groups and the local people to ensure that security is maintained state.

He said the government managed to arrest the situation by deploying security forces in areas that used to experience crimes and frequent attacks by armed elements.

However, Mr. Abulemoi said there are still pockets of insecurity especially in Magwi and Torit west causing insecurity in the roads.

Imatong Education Minister Hassan Urbano said the ministry is devising ways of reaching Magwi to implement GESS program.

“We are struggling and lobbying that if we can join UNMISS and go and pay the girls in Magwi,” he said.

Girls’ Education South Sudan (GESS) is a six year program – April 2013 to September 2018 – that aims to transform a generation of South Sudanese girls by increasing access to quality education.