Empowered to teach
Female teachers are breaking barriers to bring education to the most isolated communities
Ulang County, at Kopuot Primary School, in a fully lively class of primary five learners, Ms Chuol applies interactive teaching techniques to give back to her community and, more importantly, aspire to inspire girls to stay and complete school.
She is among the 48 female teachers out of the 302 enrolled in the volunteer teacher’s continuous professional development (CPD) programme and also receiving teaching incentives in Ulang County. She is one of the only two female teachers in her school, with 23 teachers in the Programmes.
Born around early 2000, Ms Chuol studied for her primary and secondary education in Khartoum before returning to Upper Nile in mid-2022. Upon arrival in her home village of Ulang, and looking at the situation of children and the number of out-of-school children, she offered to volunteer to teach at Kopuot Primary School, a government-founded school. Even though she hasn’t done a specific teacher training course, she felt she would make a difference at a school that has struggled to keep their teaching force due to the conflict and the economic situation.
“Since I arrived in my ancestral village here, I have helplessly watched young girls being robbed of their future in early marriage," said Ms. Chuol. The local community members of all walks of life do not see anything wrong in marrying girls from their fifteenth birthday or even below, and pride themselves during ceremonies organized and negotiations of bride prices.
She thinks that as an individual she can’t do much in an environment that perpetuates the vice but only hopes that her role as one of the few female teachers in the school could help inspire the girls to remain in school and advance to higher levels of education. Through her participation in the volunteer teachers' professional development programme, she has acquired skills of creating an inclusive learning environment that enables girls and boys to thrive.
Having seen what the girls mainly go through, she occasionally organizes additional sessions, especially with the adolescent girls, to provide tips about life skills and share her own experience. Overall, the training programme has made her a better teacher in the way she plans her lessons, assesses learners, and manages children who present with different learning challenges. Additionally, the incentives she receives help her meet some of her basic needs. She hopes that one day, she will be able to further her qualifications in teaching and become a fully certified professional teacher.
The shortage of female teachers remains a significant challenge, as completion rates for female learners remain low. In 2024, in Ulang County, only 16 girls out of 75 candidates have registered to write the Primary 8 end of level exams. In Kopuot Primary School, out of nineteen candidates registered for the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) in 2024, only one is a female. This situation just paints the gravity of issues regarding girls' education in the state.
Through the EU-supported volunteer teachers CPD (Continuous Professional Development) programme, 517 teachers of which 79 women were enrolled from the five hard-to-reach counties of ; Ulang, Baliet, Manyo, Maban and Fashoda.
These teachers were also provided teaching incentives as a way of appreciating their efforts to keep education running. And through such small contributions, we will ultimately move towards gender parity in school enrolment and completion.
