Since independence, the SPLM has led the expansion of schools, colleges and universities across all ten states and three administrative areas. The SPLM treats education not as a single ministry's job, but as the main tool of social transformation, modernisation and nation-building, and as a party-wide priority carried into every state and county structure.
The SPLM Manifesto puts it plainly: the States that invested heavily in their people's education over the last five decades are today's emerging masters of the world economy, and those that did not have fallen behind. With most of our population under the age of 35, South Sudan's future wealth will be built in its classrooms, not only in its oilfields.
The education revolution
The Manifesto commits the Party to launch an education revolution with the declared goal of eliminating illiteracy, within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is an ambitious target, and the SPLM has set it deliberately: the revolution reaches beyond children and specifically targets adult and inclusive education to end illiteracy among both women and men.
Our priorities
- Universal, quality schoolingConcerted efforts to provide universal and quality education for all, with a reformed South Sudanese national curriculum and consistently high standards of teaching.
- A boarding school in every countyEfficiently managed boarding schools in every county, so that every child, in town or in the cattle camp, can learn close to home.
- Girls' educationAt least three boarding schools (grades K–12) for girls in each state, and laws that protect every girl's right to finish her education.
- Teachers who are trained and paidSupporting teacher training and pay so teaching is a respected, well-rewarded career that attracts our best graduates.
- Vocational and technical skillsCentres for vocational and technical training to provide the skilled workers our roads, farms, energy and construction sectors need.
- World-class universitiesAdequate funding for universities, in partnership with regional and international centres of learning, focused on science, technology, innovation and research.
Every girl in school, through to graduation
More and more girls are going to school, and the SPLM is determined that every one of them completes her education. The Party stands for legislation that combats harmful customs which undermine the development of the girl child, and for enforcement of the laws protecting the rights of girls and women. The commitment to girls' boarding schools in every state is designed to give families a safe, practical option to keep daughters learning through to graduation.
Skills for work and for the future
Not every young person will go to university, and the country does not need them to. It needs electricians, mechanics, builders, tailors, nurses, agronomists and ICT technicians. SPLM backs technical and vocational training centres that connect directly to jobs, and digital learning, including the Party's own SPLM Online School, which already brings free courses to members anywhere in the country.
Higher education, science and research
The Manifesto calls for higher education that encourages critical thinking, innovation, and research and development on every aspect of our society, including the sustainable management of our natural resources. Universities should be partners in national development, training the engineers, doctors, economists and public servants a democratic developmental state depends on.
In the SPLM Manifesto
“The SPLM stands for formal education and alternative learning as the main tool of social transformation, modernization and development of South Sudan… The SPLM shall launch an education revolution with the declared goal to eliminate illiteracy.”
Every child in school, every adult able to read, and every young person with a skill. That is how a people who fought for freedom secure it for the next generation.