Higher education in limbo, says leading scholar

The political crisis in South Sudan has dealt a major blow to higher education, according to Leben Nelson Moro, assistant professor in the University of Juba’s centre for peace and development studies. “The fighting has seriously affected learning activities in our university, and many students have been displaced.” This month, university classes were suspended due to the conflict.

Oxford-educated Moro said many students had sought refuge in United Nations camps in the capital Juba, for protection against ongoing fighting between South Sudanese government forces and rebels loyal to ousted vice-president Riek Machar, which is ripping the oil-rich, war-torn country apart.

Violence erupted in the capital Juba on 15 December following clashes between factions of the presidential guard. President Salva Kiir has accused Machar of masterminding a coup attempt, hence sparking off the violence, but he has vehemently denied the accusation.

Insecurity has since spread throughout the land-locked country. More than 1,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes, according to the United Nations.

Moro said the University of Juba, as one of the country’s leading public universities, had played a key role in peace and conflict resolution. “We conduct research to come up with credible findings, and we also engage with government institutions and the civil society.”

Nevertheless, the crisis is deepening. “What we need now is to end the conflict.”

Officials quoted in the local daily Sudan Tribune said the authorities had temporarily suspended studies due to the conflict, until the situation improved. The announcement was made in a circular issued by the Higher Education Council.

The decision followed an emergency meeting in Juba between the government and officials drawn from various public and private higher education institutions and, said the officials, applied to all universities across Africa’s youngest country.

Backdrop

South Sudan attained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 following a landmark peace deal that ended Africa’s longest civil conflict.

The country has the world’s worst literacy rate, according to a recent study by the Overseas Development Institute, and less than 2% of the population has completed primary school. In 2010, only 27% of the adult population could read and write, according to South Sudan’s National Bureau of Statistics.

Official figures indicate that the government allocates 16% of the national budget to education, but aid agencies claim the actual figure is less than 10%. According to UNESCO, some 1.3 million school age children do not attend school, and the majority of those enrolled do not finish primary school.

As a new country emerging from a civil war that lasted from 1983 to 2005, South Sudan is building some of its institutions from scratch. The government is struggling to provide basic services for the majority of the population. Riddled by high inflation, the economy has remained relatively underdeveloped.

Most universities lack basic housing and other social amenities, such as John Garang University in Jonglei State, where students use plastic tents as hostels.

In recent years, there has been an exodus of South Sudanese students moving to study higher education in neighbouring countries, particularly in Kenya and Uganda, where many received primary and secondary school education during the 1983-2005 civil war.

Leben Nelson Moro

Moro fled the country at the height of the civil war between north and south Sudan, and spent many years teaching in the Egyptian capital Cairo, until 2009 – just after the warring sides, the Khartoum government and South Sudanese rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, agreed to cease hostilities.

“I returned immediately the war ended,” he told University World News during an interview.

Since then, he has been teaching graduate courses in forced migration and development at the University of Juba, which has a student population of around 10,000.

Moro, who received a masters in forced migration and a PhD in development studies from Oxford University, has also been conducting research on development-induced displacement and resettlement, focusing on oil-related conflicts in Sudan as well as relations across the North-South border.

In addition to the University of Juba, South Sudan also has higher learning institutions in Upper Nile State, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Jonglei and Lakes state.

South Sudanese officials say they plan to open new university campuses using oil-backed loans from China. The country, which depends entirely on oil revenues, intends to move its five public universities to new, modern campuses with the Chinese loans.

According to the AFP news agency, oil production revenue comprised more than 95% of South Sudan’s fledgling economy last December, just before the violence broke out.

A chance for peace?

Peace talks aimed at ending the conflict are underway in neighbouring Ethiopia. Moro called on the international community to scale up humanitarian assistance efforts.

“I was in Bentiu when the fighting broke out. I took refuge at a safe location but there were rumours about cases of lawlessness, such as women being sexually assaulted. It’s a very difficult situation,” he said.

Asked if the crisis would end any time soon, Moro said: “We have to work very hard for peace.” However, he added: “I’m very optimistic that the situation will change soon for the better.”