Anthropologist Deng Nhial Chioh speaks on Eye Radio's Dawn Show. November 8, 2024. (Photo: Awan Moses/Eye Radio).

Deng Nhial Chioh – the Founder and Executive Director of Maale Foundation for Heritage, Peace and Development Studies – warned that without a foundation in their native language, children risk losing touch with their historical and cultural identity, which is essential for maintaining a connection to their heritage.

South Sudan’s volatile situation has forced many families to send their children to neighbouring countries including Uganda and Kenya for better studies.

The cultural expert encouraged parents in South Sudan to pass on their language and cultural identity to their children and avoid sending them to nurseries and schools in the region.

According to him, this will help preserve their cultures as many children have lost their language and culture due to what he termed as globalization.

He said parents and guardians should ensure that their children do not study in other countries at a young age. Instead, he calls on the government to import teachers from those countries to help them preserve their cultural identities.

“Mother language begins from home and home is the right environment for children to learn. Such a situation means children grow up in two worlds, and once outside there, the child does not learn the mother tongue.”

“There are people who say; oh, we sent this child to Kampala, Kenya, etc and the child is speaking English and this is good, but they don’t know that those children will not have love for their country.”

“When you sent them to other countries, they will learn the culture and history of that country. You will later realize that they only look like South Sudanese but their minds are of America for example.”

“Let’s take the foundation of our children seriously, instead of sending them to other countries, let us bring the teachers to the country to teach them here and they will learn and cherish our culture here in South Sudan.”

Deng Nhial further called on the government to prioritize establishment of national museum in the country.

He said the world is advancing in technology, adding that the more South Sudan do not preserve its culture, the more it loses its legacies.

“The challenge for us is where you can have a center for museum where people can come and see which is not there, but most of our museum items are there in the world.”

“There are more than 25,000 items, you will find them in America, in Europe and many museums in the world, and some of them are not even on internet. So, this is where also the government can play a role and institutions can be reinstated and brought back.”

“They also need to be archiving so that we preserve them. Museum is very important and the role of government should be very clear on that side so that you can be like any other country, like Kenya which has a national museum and like Uganda which has a national museum.”

South Sudan is a multilingual country, with over 60 indigenous ethnic groups and languages.

In February 2023, the UN cultural agency – UNESCO said the incorporation of mother languages into lower primary school syllabuses is important in maximizing the enrollment of learners.

Tap Raj, the Head of the Education Unit for UNESCO implored that prioritizing national languages in lower primary schools is one way in bringing those remote areas to comfortably partake into learning systems before switching into other foreign languages.