Educating Girl Groups in South Sudan

One Hundred Forty Girls

One Hundred girls have graduated from high school over the past five years as a direct result of gifts to Project Education South Sudan (PESS) for their tuition, fees, and personal supplies. Another 40 girls are set to graduate at the end of this school year – March 2022. This in a country that is not used to seeing girls graduate from high school. Girls are much more likely to have married – through a family arranged marriage – and have young children of their own, by the time they reach their late teens, than they are to have graduated from high school. This problem has been aggravated by the social disruption of almost 2 years of Covid protocols. In a 2021 study, UNICEF concludes that 2.8 million children, over 70%, of South Sudanese children are out of school this year. Yet PESS is set to mark the high school graduation of 140 girls through its programs.

This makes a huge difference. According to UNICEF*, “a child born to an educated mother has a 50 per cent higher chance of survival. The risk of child marriage and early pregnancy is lower if girls stay in school. Educated parents are more likely to send their children to school.” The graduation of 140 girls from high school will impact the future of 140 families and all the children born to those families. The ripples will grow out from these efforts for decades to come. Thank you for helping to make such a difference.

*For more information see: https://www.unicef.org/southsudan/what-we-do/education