FILE PHOTO: A teacher seen in this class in one of the schools in Aweil South Sudan - courtesy

Northern Bahr el Ghazal Minister of Education has suggested screening teaching staff at the primary and secondary school levels to improve the quality of education in the state.

Education Minister Santino Bol Akok made the remarks at the conclusion of a four-day Education Conference in the state.

Minister Santino urged the national Ministry of General Education to support the move to enable the country offer quality education to the learners.

“I want to bring to your attention that what we can commit ourselves to is the issue of our teachers,” he said in remarks directed to the National Minister of General Education present at the event.

“It is good to go ahead with the policy from national level to the state level so that we can go ahead and screen the teachers that can bring quality education to our state and that exercise it is not the exercise that we can do for ourselves, but we want you to come by our side so that we will do that exercise.”

The education conference that ended on Thursday, was under the theme, “Invest in girls’ Education to Transform South Sudan.”

A similar screening test was administered to about 3,000 primary and secondary school teachers by Lakes State government, on June 11, 2023, to improve education and wipe out ghost names.

But the state ministry of education announced later that only around 1,000 out of the 3,000-teaching staff passed the screening exams.

The teachers in Lakes were grilled two months after the Vice President for Service Cluster announced plans to have them screened in a bid to lay off unqualified teachers and absorb qualified volunteers on the payroll.

According to the Institute of Development Studies, teachers in South Sudan remain poorly and irregularly paid – leading to qualified teachers deserting for better-paying jobs.

This has reportedly resulted in schools hiring primary and secondary school leavers with limited proficiency in English – the language of instruction.

Teachers have also been complaining about low pay and poor working conditions.