Impact of Capital Spend in Realizing School Development

For over ten years, Girls’ Education South Sudan (GESS) has supported education in SouthSudan through various interventions, including cash transfers to schoolchildren, behaviour change communications activities (radio programming and community outreach activities), and capitation grants. Capitation grants are funds made available to public and communitybased schools to facilitate the running costs and remove the burden of paying registration fees off learners, motivating parents to send their children to school. These grants were used to set up minor physical infrastructure, carry out renovations and improvements, improve the quality of teaching and learning, and provide general support to relieve the financial burden of school fees and provide a conducive learning environment for all learners.

In 2024, GESS introduced the payment of capital spend to public and community-run secondary schools for improved learning environments/spaces such as furniture, construction of classroom blocks, rumps for children with disabilities, etc. The outcome of capital spend is improved learning quality and access to learning facilities. Unlike capitation grants, which were based on the number of learners enrolled in a school, capital spend is based on the needs of the schools. “Capital spend is money given to secondary schools based on their needs. A school that has been accounting for previous monies given to them presents a budget for their needs and they are given the money. The money has been spent on assets such as classrooms, and equipment such as printers,” explained Fred Ogoti, Grants Lead, GESS.

Capital spends are released to a school after meeting conditions laid down by the Education Transfers and Monitoring Committee (ETMC) at the Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI), such as completing a designed form with desired activities, submission of School Development Plans and Budget, forming an active working/functional School
Management Committee/Board of Governors (SMCs/BoGs), onboarding learners, sending the daily attendance of students/learners to the Schools’ Attendance Monitoring System (SAMS), and accounting for money received in previous years. Approval from the GESS Secretariat/MoGEI is also required.

Grinti Secondary School in Wau North Payam, Western Bahr el Ghazal State, stands as a testament to how the capital spend has impacted education in South Sudan. Using capital spend money received in 2024, Grinti Secondary School
managed to construct four classrooms and an office using the capital spend money, taking it out of a challenging situation. “Last year, we were sharing office and classes Mott MacDonald Restricted with Grinti Primary School, which was very challenging in terms of keeping records, length of period for learners, and even other school activities such as recreational and sports activities. The school had to operate only in the afternoon, but with the capital spend, this has changed since we now have our classrooms,” said Elia Anthony, Head Teacher, Grinti Secondary School.

Grinti Secondary School was closed for more than two years due to a lack of learning spac

es after the temporary learning spaces collapsed. It is the only government-run school in the Wau North residential area, which serves Block A, Block B, and parts of Jur River Payam, thousands of people were affected as the children who completed primary school struggled to find a secondary school. By completing the construction of the four classrooms, disadvantaged students who could not access private schools and travel to distant government schools will now enrol in school. With good learning facilities, learners will be in a conducive environment, leading to better attainment and performance in the national examinations.

Western Bahr el Ghazal State has more than 450 primary and about 50 secondary schools across the state, of which more than 90% of secondary schools benefited from the capital grants released in July 2024. Grinti Secondary School is a government (military)-run school and one of the underserved and low-performing schools in the state. It had a low enrolment of learners, with 182 (92 females, 90 males) in 2022 and 143 (81 females, 62 males) in 2024. The Grinti Secondary Board of Governors is committed to improving enrolment and delivering quality education. The school had temporary learning spaces that were not attractive enough to motivate learners and their parents to admire the school and enrol, especially after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since then, the school environment has deteriorated and become unbearable for learners, especially when structures collapse. Grinti Secondary School received capital spend in July 2024 amounting to 46,405,000 SSP (17,187 USD).

The board of governors prioritised the capital spend for constructing four classrooms and a headteacher’s office, making the school conducive and ready to receive learners this academic year 2025. With the construction of four classrooms, a headteacher’s office and the provision of desks using capital spend and capitation grants, Grinti Secondary has become
one of the best government schools in Wau North. The management anticipates that many learners will enrol in large numbers and receive quality teaching, lifting the burden from learners moving far distances to Wau town or Block B to attend school, which may affect their learning process.

“The capital spend activities are physically visible and the impact is felt in the locality. The assets achieved through the capital spend are long-lasting. Therefore, learning will take place in a conducive environment leading to an immediate and long impact on education improvements in the state”. Paulino Bol Majak, Partners’ Coordinator at The State Ministry of
Education, and State Education Transfer Monitoring Committee member. Such support for education permanently impacts education and supports the delivery of quality education to the needy.

GESS continues to support education IN South Sudan, improving the quality of learning and accessibility for all children, including children with disabilities.

The GESS programme receives funding through UK aid from the UK Government, the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada, the European Union (EU), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Norway Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

To read more about the GESS Programme here: Girls’ Education South Sudan – Transform the lives of a generation of children in South Sudan through education

Categorised in: Capitation Grants, Girls' Education, Human Interest Story