Esther Akumu, Director General for Gender, Equity and Inclusive Education at the Ministry of General Education and Instruction.

Over 448,000 schoolgirls will start receiving cash transfers across the country on Tuesday next week, the Ministry of General Education and Instruction has said.

Esther Akumu, Director General for Gender, Equity and Inclusive Education at the Ministry of General Education and Instruction announced on Eye Radio on Thursday.

GESS Cash transfers are direct payments given to girls who are regularly attending school in different classes mainly in the primary.

It aims to address the high rate of dropouts among girls particularly those transitioning from Primary to Secondary school.

The program is also to help to improve girls’ access to quality education and to boost social inclusion.

All girls from Primary 5 to 8, Senior I and Senior IV are eligible for the program.

She did not disclose how much each would be getting, but it will be based on their specific and unique needs.

“This year we are looking at the cash transfer validations progressing, so we are estimating over 448,000 girls across the country will receive this money,” said Akumu.

“We are hoping that after finishing then we will have the correct number that maybe we be released, but at the moment that’s the number we are expecting,

“Usually, when we have the cash transfers before we have it, we have the validations of the girls to see which girls are eligible for these cash transfers.”

For his part, Daniel Gesaka, the Finance Manager of the Girls Education South Sudan warned that any schools found manipulating the process, will be removed from the program.

“We want the schools to be aware that any school which tries to manipulate the process, that school will be left out,” Gesaka said.

“The community needs to know how to hold that school accountable. We continue to avoid that standard of integrity,

“We also want to urge the same stakeholders within the education sector and our partners, which as the process goes on, we support them.”

All Primary 5-8 and Secondary 1-4 girls who are eligible will be targeted over the lifetime of the Programme.