Armed forces urged to vacate schools

The Vice President for Service Cluster, Hussein Abdelbagi Akol has directed the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs to ensure all schools still occupied by armed forces are vacated. 

He said the presence of the armed forces in those learning institutions was creating fear among the school children and the teachers.

“I want the ministry of defence and other concerned ministries of learning to work together to make sure that all the armed forces occupying [learning] institutions evacuated across the country so that our children have a conducive learning environment,” Abdelbagi said.

He was speaking during the launch of a booklet titled: ‘‘A Guide to Understanding Safe Schools: Declaration Guidelines and South Sudan People’s Defence Forces Code of Conduct’’.

The booklet was prepared by the Ministry of General Education and Instruction with the support of Save the Children and Charity and Empowerment Foundation.

Abdelbagi emphasised that all the learning institutions should be safe from the armed conflict, adding that the December 2013 conflict had dragged the South Sudanese children behind in terms of access to education and a good learning environment.

“Our children could not get access to school for a long time. We witnessed attacks on schools and teachers and we have among us the survivors of the attack,” he said.

He said one day the alleged attackers would be apprehended and brought to justice.

Speaking at the same event, Minister of General Education and Instruction, Awut Deng Achuil said the learning environment for the students and pupils should be conducive.

Exit overdue

She said the schools were not only being occupied by armed forces but also the civilians.

“We need also to include our community in the process across. It is our collective responsibility to make sure the awareness reaches everybody,” said Awut. 

However, the Undersecretary for the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, Maj Gen Chol Diar said the letter written by the Minister of Defence, Angelina Teny, to the concerned ministry of learning institutions served to reaffirm the commitment by the army as a general demand that all the military should stop occupying schools. 

Maj. Gen Chol said the ministry of defence had already ordered for all schools occupied by the armed forces to be vacated.

“We in the ministry of defence can solve the problem like what has happened in Eastern Equatoria State is our responsibility. We are going to make sure that the schools occupied by the military are evacuated,” he said.

The Country Director for Save the Children International, Rama Hansraj said attacks on education still occur across the country.

She said this often results into the killing of some of the students and teachers. 

Ms. Rama revealed that more than 150 schools have been used for military purposes and hundreds of children abducted from their classrooms since 2013.