Martin Tako, Deputy Minister of General Education and Instruction/Photo/Lou Nelson

The Ministry of General Education and Instruction has blamed the delay in the marking of the Certificate of Primary Education Examination papers on constraints in returning the written examination papers to Juba.

The ministry has already announced that the new academic year calendar will commence on February 05, 2024, but the marking of the papers is still ongoing.

It’s not clear when the marking will finish but the ministry says, it’s trying its best to ensure senior-one students are not late for classes like in the previous years.

Deputy Minister Martin Tako attributes the delay in the marking of the examinations to challenges in returning the papers from some locations in the country.

“The obstacle is so huge, it was not easy to bring the written papers, it was very difficult. People had to make plans, and we had no money to do this,” he said.

He cited Greater Pibor, Ruweng, Raja, and Northern Upper Nile States as areas faced with difficulties in returning the papers.

Tako applauds the partners and the national army for flying back the papers to Juba for marking.

“We had to appeal to our partners and our national army, they had to give us helicopters and other planes to bring back the written examination papers from Greater Pibor Area, Ruweng, Raja, and Northern Upper Nile, it was not easy.

“It took time, it took almost two weeks for these written papers to come back for marking, and that’s why the marking delays,” he said.

In December last year, about 60,000 pupils sat for their Primary Leaving Examination across South Sudan on Monday morning.