Turkey builds modern learning space in South Sudan

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) completed the building of a modern classroom block in South Sudan in less than a month as part of an effort to eradicate illiteracy and boost the sector ruined by civil war.

Turkish institutions and authorities are doing everything in their power to make South Sudanese feel at home and to provide them with necessary basic needs, Ayahya Acu, the TIKA representative in South Sudan told Anadolu Agency during the handover ceremony to South Sudan’s Jubek state government in the capital, Juba.

Acu offered insights regarding the project saying: "The aim is to give hope to the people of South Sudan and to show others that we can achieve more; this building was built in four weeks.”

The Nile Model, where the facility was constructed, is one of the oldest schools built during the war in South Sudan. It hosts over a thousand students.

The Turkish ambassador to South Sudan, Hasan Sevilir Asan emphasized the "excellent relations" Turkey has with South Sudan. “This school will be a good model of our friendship,” he said.

“We are very friendly countries, we have excellent relations politically, economically, we have excellent relations,” Sevilir said.

South Sudanese government officials were thrilled by Turkish efforts to support the education sector, describing the facility as symbol of good bilateral relations between the two countries.

Wani Sule, the Jubek State education minister said: “Thanks for this big achievement, within a very short period of communication and consultation, something has been seen practically, and it has served the great need.”

Years of war and upheaval in South Sudan has had an inevitable impact on education -- almost three-quarters of adults in the world's newest country are unable to read or write.

A recent report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) holds that less than two percent of the population has completed primary school education.