Photo Essay: Embracing Education
LWF education assistance in Ajuong Thok refugee camp, in Unity State, South Sudan, addresses the needs for people of almost every age. Activities range from pre-school classes in child-friendly spaces up to post-graduate courses for teachers and secondary school graduates. The refugee population from the Nuba Mountains is very keen to use those possibilities. As the camp is expanding with new refugees fleeing the conflict in Kordofan, LWF is challenged to meet the demand for new schools and teachers. Some impressions of what learning looks like in Ajuong Thok.
16 March 2015
Photos: LWF/ C. Kästner
The pre-school soccer team of the Unity Child-friendly Space (CFS), named after the county where the camp is situated. CFS offer a morning program for pre-school children and afternoon activities for pupils. The children learn English and the alphabet with singing, dancing and playing.
The CFS also provide an opportunity to identify unaccompanied or vulnerable children, and to follow up with their families and caregivers. The photo shows a counseling session for unaccompanied female teenagers.
Mothers of the Ajuong Thok host community, who send their small children to Wun Minyiel Child Friendly Space (CFS). The CFS became so popular that one was set up for the hosts as well. These mothers would love to join their children in class: “We never went to school,” they say. “When the children come home, we are learning the letters and English songs from them.”
Napata Primary School. Named after a Nubian kingdom, the school is one of three primary schools in the camp. Education is very important to the South Kordofan refugee population. Their access to schools and universities was limited through years of conflict and displacement.
With a total of 5,127 students as of February 2015, all primary schools are overcrowded. Students learn in tents, often sitting on the floor because the conflict in South Sudan delays the trucks which are bringing desks and school material, sometimes for months. Every week 1,000 new refugees arrive in the camp. Half of them are children of school-going age.
In the afternoon, the primary schools offer an Accelerated Learning Program (ALP). The program addresses students in their teenage years, who have missed basic primary education because of conflict and displacement. In Ajuong Thok, 1,045 youth are currently enrolled in the ALP which covers the curriculum of two school years in one year. After, they will be able to attend secondary school.
Soba School is the only secondary school in the camp. There are 1,232 students enrolled, who study up to 11 subjects in Arabic and English. In the afternoon, they often meet on the school grounds to revise and do their homework together, as shown in this picture. They also attend extracurricular activities like arts, crafts, journalism club and sports activities.
A volunteer cuts exercise books into thirds to have enough material for all children at Unity Child Friendly Space. Flooding in the rainy season and fighting in the dry season make road transport extremely difficult in South Sudan. Almost all the school materials have to be flown in by expensive air cargo.
Teacher candidates waiting for their interviews. Due to the high number of students, there are many open positions. Many candidates already bring teaching experience from the Nuba Mountains and refugee camps in Kenya and Uganda. The high number of students still creates a shortage of teachers.
Computer training for teachers and secondary school graduates. The training is the first step in offering computer classes to students in primary and secondary school. Two of the schools have recently been connected to the internet.
Ajuong Thok reception area. The renewed fighting in Kordofan has caused a massive influx of refugees. About 1,000 new people arrive in the camp every day, half of them children of school-going age. To accommodate them all, LWF would need to build 3 more primary schools and another secondary school in 2015.
