China donates over 300,000 printed school textbooks to South Sudan

South Sudan's Minister of General Education and Instruction Awut Deng Acuil (R, front) and Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Ma Qiang (L, front) display some of the textbooks and teaching aids donated by the Chinese government in Juba, South Sudan, on Feb. 1, 2023. South Sudan's Ministry of General Education and Instruction on Wednesday received 330,000 printed textbooks from the Chinese government for instruction to primary one learners. (Photo by Denis Elamu/Xinhua)

JUBA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's Ministry of General Education and Instruction on Wednesday received 330,000 printed textbooks from the Chinese government for instruction to primary one learners.

The printed textbooks under the China-Aided Phase II Technical Cooperation Project of Education in South Sudan are for the subjects of English, mathematics and science.

"Today we are very thankful for receiving the learning and teaching materials from the project. I have instructed the operation of distribution to be well organized to ensure these materials reach the hands of need so that the South Sudanese pupils and learners will benefit from the materials," Awut Deng Acuil, Minister of General Education and Instruction said in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, during the hand-over ceremony.

Other additional materials handed over include tangram and mathematics packages for primary schools and laboratory equipment for secondary schools.

"South Sudan is shaping up its education system, implementing competency and skills in learners at the pre-primary, primary, secondary levels, and alternative education system, an idea that echoes the education system development in China that spurred its technology over the decades," Acuil said, adding that hundreds of teachers and educational managers will be organized to participate in the capacity empowerment programs.

In December 2022, the ministry together with educational experts from China, completed the development and review of the English, mathematics and science textbooks for primary 2 to 4 developed by Shanghai Educational Publishing House.

Ma Qiang, Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan, said the education sector has always been a priority area for exchanges and cooperation between the two countries since the independence of South Sudan in 2011.

Ma said the successful implementation of the China-Aided Phase I Technical Cooperation Project of Education in South Sudan in 2018 marked the first comprehensive China-Aided technical cooperation in the education sector for developing countries.

"The delivery of the project was affirmed by the South Sudanese government and educational participants with over a million textbooks in the subjects of mathematics, science, and English shipped to Juba, bringing direct benefits to over 150,000 South Sudanese teachers and students," Ma said, adding that more than 200 South Sudanese teachers were invited to China for capacity-building courses during the implementation of the China-Aided technical cooperation in education in South Sudan.

"In 2023, the project implementation is scheduled to cover the development and review of Primary 5 to 8 textbooks for the subjects of English, mathematics and science, the capacity building for hundreds of teachers and school managers, as well as the printing and delivery of over nearly 1 million textbooks," Ma said.

He also said that the Chinese language and cultural programs under phase II of the China-Aided project have enhanced exchanges and experiences between the peoples of the two countries.