encouraging girls education in South Sudan

Supporting girl’s education in South Sudan is a great challenge particularly for the secondary level due to many different aspects affecting girl’s enrollment and performance in schools such as, cultural practices, environment, and poverty. From my last experience of “Education we believe” campaign in 2013 for encouraging girl’s education in one of the villages in Wau city, I found it very hard for girls to finish their education because their families doesn’t value education by keeping them to do the household, therefore. There will be a need for coordinating between the schools and families to get more girls in schools for equality between boys and girls and support them to reach the secondary school. So I will need to initiate an initiative from a group of female teachers to become mentors in an action plan for the community outreach and sensitization about the cultural practices against girl’s education to create a dialogue for parents, elders, and chiefs to come together and agree about the importance of education for a great change and empower those young girls as role models and teachers through the school projects that will be implemented every year. Starting from the grassroots determine the future of development because this is whereby girls are 
marginalized and never go to school but they drop before reaching the secondary level.

The next plan is girls camp project “empowering girls through ICT” to train girls computer literacy that will prepare them for the university and support their career plan. I believe that the knowledge and experience that I got from my master studies and policy analysis will help me to make it possible.

MY GOALS WHEN I RETURN TO SOUTH SUDAN

   Basically, I will be working with the higher education when I go back to south Sudan whereby my contribution will go directly to the University of Bahr el Ghazal from the experience that I got from IU as part of SSHELD educational goals for building up the capacities of teachers in one hand, and on the other hand I will plan for a project that will help girls through the challenges that they face in education within the society to enhance their capacities toward education through an action plan for a targeting group of secondary school girls in Western Bahr el Ghazal States from the experience that I have got about the making policies from Dr. Dan workshops. I would like also to participate in the instructional design for South Sudan Curriculum about what I have learned from the curriculum instruction and emerging learning technologies courses and what I have learned from Dr. Engebretson of "diversity of all learner" to be included in our curriculum as platform to support and emerge the multicultural education which will develop a greater understanding for the relationship between children's access to a digital collection of multicultural materials and children's attitudes toward books, libraries, reading, technology, and other countries and cultures and the diversity in South Sudan for peace education . Lastly am hoping to work together with my fellow women to initiate an organization that will build a network to empower uneducated women, peace building and self-development for capacity building programs across the regions.

The Impact of Insecurity in Reducing The Student Enrollment in Times of Crises

   Conflicts reduce the number of students attendance at schools due to lack of insecurity, it leads to instability and hugely damaging impacts on entire educational systems which affects education indirectly, for example, through conflict-related sexual violence against children, it creates a climate of fear that keeps girls at home. There is a high dropout numbers of students do not go to school in the time of crisis because their parents do not allow them to go to school, and they do not trust the schools administration and situation outside the streets, most of the families moved to other neighboring countries and some to other states, and most of them obviously goes to the villages, they fears that maybe they will be killed or injured, so seriously they cannot allow their children to go to school which increase the school drop out rate and many of children become victims on their ways to go to schools in this crisis.

In addition to that with situation of poverty, parents find it difficult to pay school fees, and eventually they choose to take their children out of school and put them to work at home.

Jane Adams House Hall, University of Chicago

   It has been a great chance for me to visit the hall house to know more about one of few women who pursue and calls for education in nineteenth century in Chicago. She impacted economic, political, social and moral reforms. Her patient or effective change impacted the issues neglected by others; she was criticized and accused of being a socialist, an anarchist and communist because she fought for equity. A role model for a lot of women all over the world, Jane Adams has really inspired me with her patient and love for serving her country and being a phenomenal figure to help people, she founded the Hull house in 1889 to host women and children who doesn’t found a place within society which shows her patient and love to serve people, and as women we have to be strong to face discrimination that happens in the violent world. 


   I have learned more about her life that gave me the motivation to build up my dreams, and put them into action in a courageous way of being a leader despite all the challenges that might happened in life journey because our communities are in need of such kind of support in many different ways. It is such a great experience to know about her achievements in life and do the same to achieve the goals and help our fellow women and children in South Sudan through education and self-empowerment.

The Midwest conference of the comparative and international education society (CIES)

October 10-11,2014

I have learned more form this conference specially the Technology and Internationalization session presented by linden Herrera, Brenda Nyandiko, and Patrick Mose, Which is talking about the educational opportunities and challenges in developing countries and the online learning, as well as the mobile phones uses and the "education for all project" in Kenya I like the idea that Women were using peer-to-peer media for civic education in that project, and I was very interested to hear more about the principles of critical pedagogy in the online classroom they also talked about the non-traditional adult education.

 Technology is a tool to express about ourselves online but in the situation that we have in South Sudan I think we cant relay too much on it because there are huge number of people who are unreachable, and as we are living in the social media age, the question still remains in my mind, What exactly happen to the online files and digital records and which polices privacy is applied to keep them all safe?

South Sudan history curriculum approach

  I Think South Sudan History curriculum should include the important incidents and movements, past, struggle, Independent, though it would be very complicated for them, but it’s the essential part of South Sudan History. And it should be designed in a way that students will be able to know about their Identity and cultural diversity that will make them to explore themselves in a good way and to get the knowledge of the way they should think about themselves and others from different prospectives.  We can also address other issues like multi disciplinary to teach students about sport, music, geographical, literature or Art history to be part of the history studies such that it enables them to make meaningful connections between these various disciplines and to understand them within their historical context and this could be an interesting part. This because of the stress of the conflicts that have been recurring in the country and to focus positive ideologies rather than negatives to raise their enthusiasm.

My Experience to study at IU

It was such a great experience when we all made it to the United States as a group of fourteen ladies with Arlene and Dr. Kathryn, they really did good job! We would have not make it without them. We were highly welcomed by Dr. Julia, Terry, and other people from IU.
In my first week, I realized that I have to learn the do’s and don’ts of everything from crossing the roads, to the different signs to pay attention to everywhere and other cultural norms, and I found that I need some more advice on adjusting to classes and academics on campus. I missed home a lot but am happy to learn about new cultures.
Am very grateful to have this chance to came and study at Indiana University. though it has a lot of challenges! and we have scarified to leave our families back, but we are here to take the good seeds that we are going to implant back home, to be the change makers and peace makers in South Sudan.
 I would rate this experience as an excellent part of my life. Prof. Terry, Dr. Kathryn, Arlene and Rhonda, professors, and my colleagues -- all of you are great! I really thank you all from the bottom of my heart.