Teachers stand outside an examination center in Gogrial West County. (-)

Warrap State parliament said it officially cancelled ongoing teachers’ screening exams over failure to address economic hardship facing teachers among others, as vice president Hussein Abdelbagi warned that those who refuse the test will be fired.

Makuei Thion Makuei, head of the assembly’s Information Committee, said the decision was made after a body formed to probe the exam’s legitimacy presented its findings. He said the assembly initially received an emergency motion regarding the exam during its sitting on February 3, 2025.

Following deliberations, the state parliament unanimously resolved to cancel the exams, declaring its outcome null and void – due to “lack of a legal directive” from the National Ministry of General Education and Instruction.

Mr. Thion said the assembly had assumed that the screening exercise was based on the national education policy, adding it was later discovered there is no official document supporting it.

“There is no legal document that comes from the National Ministry of General Education. We thought that it was a policy,” he said.

“We formed the ad-hoc committee to go and seek for the document. So, there is nothing like that. That is one of the reasons.”

“Again, the exams was brought from the University of Rumbek.  So, we were also looking for the document that authorized lecturers from Rumbek University to come and conduct exams in Warrap State.”

“Number three is about the economic hardships. You know the teachers have gone for a number of months without salaries, and giving them exams, and telling them to move from different location to the examination centers, it seemed like a punishment.”

On Wednesday, Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi called on state and local authorities to cooperate with the education ministry’s reform policy including teachers assessment exams to improve education in line with 2018 accord.

This came after public primary school teachers in Gogrial West County declined to sit on February 3 in protest of their unpaid 14-month salary arrears. They swore to sit only when their arrears are paid and urged the government to be responsive to their welfare.

But VP Abdelbagi stated that the salary crisis should not be confused with the educational reform agenda, adding that the government is working to address the payment of teachers.

He appealed to the state and local governments to support and cooperate with the designated institutions for the success of the exercise.

The vice president warned that any teacher who refused to take the assessment exams will be fired.

“Everybody who is a teacher in South Sudan and is rejecting the exams, we will take measures against him. First we will assume he is not our teacher any longer and whoever is not taking this exams, we are laying him off the system.

“It is better for you to sit for this exams so that you can continue whether you fail, we will see whether to retrain you and bring you back on board, while if you pass, you will continue teaching. So I am here today telling them to cooperate. If they are not cooperating,