By Kei Emmanuel Duku<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gorom, located 26 kilometers from Juba City has received first first-ever Secondary School, which will serve both refugees and the host community.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Although still under construction and currently 75% complete, the school is poised to serve between 350 and 400 students, primarily refugees from Ethiopia and Sudan, as well as members of the local community.<\/p>\n The ongoing construction project is a joint effort by the Canaan Group of Companies, UNHCR, and the UN Refugee Agency, with an estimated cost of $200,000.<\/p>\n The initiative was spearheaded by Bereket Goitom, a former refugee who grew up in Sudan after escaping conflict in Ethiopia.<\/p>\n Once operational, Gorom Secondary School will be the first post-primary institution in the area, filling a significant gap in educational opportunities.<\/p>\n However, Dr. Kuyok Aboul, Undersecretary of the Ministry of General Education and Instruction, noted that the school still lacks essential items such as blackboards, desks, and a library.<\/p>\n “The school is not yet complete, and I cannot accept an incomplete facility,” Dr. Aboul said. “Together with UNHCR, and Canaan Properties, we will ensure that the school is ready for next year’s February intake.”<\/p>\n The National Ministry of General Education and the Central Equatorial State Ministry of Education will recruit a head teacher and teaching staff to manage the school according to Dr Kuyok.<\/p>\n Gorom Refugee Settlement was established in 2010 to host over 25,000 refugees from Ethiopia. The conflict in Sudan in 2023 brought an additional 7,000 refugees to the settlement.<\/p>\n According to UNHCR-South Sudan, there are currently about 14,584 Sudanese refugees and 400,000 host communities in Gorom.<\/p>\n Bereket Goitom, CEO of Canaan Groups, emphasized the importance of education for refugees.<\/p>\n “I studied in a refugee school in Sudan and know the challenges they face,” he said. “Investing in education is crucial for the future of these communities.”<\/p>\n Gloria Nyakia, UNHCR Assistant Representative-Protection, said the school is expected to accommodate 350-400 students once it is fully operational.<\/p>\n The school still lacks a fence, a source of clean drinking water, and other necessary sanitary facilities.<\/p>\n However, UNHCR and the government are working to complete these remaining works before handing over the school to the government.<\/p>\n Charles Lino, UNHCR Head of the Field Unit, expressed gratitude to the Gorom community for donating land for the school and expressed hope for future expansion.<\/p>\n Amina Adam, a Sudanese refugee who has been in Gorom for over a year, noted that the lack of secondary education has led to an increase in school dropout rates among Sudanese refugees.<\/p>\n Many students face long distances to access education and some have relocated to urban areas to continue their studies.<\/p>\n Adam praised the Canaan Group of Companies for creating job opportunities for refugees during the construction project.<\/p>\n Despite the challenges, Eltijani Salh, Chairperson for Sudanese Refugees in Gorom, reported no cases of early marriages within the camps.<\/p>\n He highlighted the need for teachers who can teach in Arabic since English is the medium of instruction in many South Sudanese schools.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Kei Emmanuel Duku Gorom, located 26 kilometers from Juba City has received first first-ever Secondary School, which will serve both refugees and the host community. Although still under construction and currently 75% complete, the school is poised to serve between 350 and 400 students, primarily refugees from Ethiopia[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":28840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Yet-to-be-completed-Gorom-Secondary-School-is-expected-to-transform-the-lives-of-more-than-350-400-refugee-students.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28841,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28839\/revisions\/28841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}