Schoolboys at the new classrooms premises. (Photo: UNMISS).

The UN Mission in South Sudan commissioned three new classrooms for Lietnhom Primary School in Aweil East County, Northern Bahr El Ghazal State on Monday.

The premises made of concrete, and equipped with desks and chairs were constructed under the UNMISS-funded Quick Impact Project initiative.

The facilities also include a bathroom and special room for teaching staff.

Lietnhom Primary School was established in 1995, and now hosts around 1,000 pupils, reportedly from an IDPs camp in the area.

“I am very excited about having a real school to go to. Our books have often become destroyed by heavy rains,” UNMISS quotes 17-year-old Bakhita Abuk Garang as saying.

UNMISS says learning has been interrupted since the start of the rainy season, with learning materials destroyed and classes often canceled due to extreme weather events.

The school also faces lack of qualified teachers and insufficient learning materials, a situation that the state Education Minister Santino Bol Akok promised to address soon.

The UN’s food agency World Food Programme is also said to have pledged a new feeding program for the school.

Last year, the government appealed to the UN to modify its mandate in the country from peacekeeping to developmental programs, saying the country has attained peace.

Deng Dau Deng, the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation called on the leadership of the UN governing body, to redirect its mandate to include capacity building and infrastructure among others.