Learners need a Conducive Environment to Excel

“Nobody in our family has gone very far with education. I thought I would not also get to this level when I became pregnant,” Naome.

Naome is a 23-year-old girl who sat her final secondary school exams in Juba in the recently concluded South Sudan Certificate of Secondary Education (SSCSE) 2022. The exams were done in April this this year.  Naome lived with her mother and siblings in the town of Kajo keji, South Sudan before escaping conflict in her hometown to a refugee camp in Uganda. It was in the camp that Naome fell pregnant and thought she would not join school again.

Unlike some parents and guardians in South Sudan, Naome’s mother was very supportive and accepted her request to return to school. “Because the environment was good and I was made comfortable at school and at home, I am sitting my final exams today, ( referring to the period of the exams) and I will become someone important in future. I want to be a nurse,” Naome said.

Naome now has a three-year-old daughter who Naome’s mother helps to look after while she is at school. Like Naome, all girls who have fallen pregnant deserve acceptance in the school of their choice, and a conducive environment for them to excel and reach their potential.

She attributes her success in reaching the final exams to the continuous support, childcare in particular, from her mother and receiving the GESS Cash Transfer, which enabled her to afford some items for personal care. “The money we receive as students really helps us a lot. It makes us to stay in school. Even sometimes we can use the money to buy medicine when sick and we continue going to school. It just depends on one’s needs”, Naome states.

Education is a right of every child! GESS urges all parents and guardians to send all of their children to school for Academic Year 2022, including nursing and pregnant learners and learners with disabilities.

Categorised in: Cash Transfers, Girls' Education