Although a relatively new
country, South Sudan has quickly implemented policies and acts to promote
education, especially for young girls. However, despite President Salva Kiir’s
clear message about the importance of education, South Sudan has no shortage of
development and humanitarian challenges that it needs to overcome. The country’s
internal insecurities and conflicts also disturb education and the decades of
civil war have caused many South Sudanese children and adults to not attend school.
Consequently, many adults have adopted the mentality that marriage, not
education, will bring respect. This mindset, in turn, is contributing to child marriage.
As a result, close to half the girls in South Sudan between the ages of fifteen
and nineteen are married. These young wives have not continued with their
education due to financial troubles, childbearing, chores, and societal norms
that dictate that marriage and school conflict.
It seems that although South
Sudan means well and fully intends to encourage the importance of education and
empowerment of girls, the government first needs to tackle the subject of child
marriage. This means enforcing and enacting laws concerning child marriage,
and, perhaps even more importantly, informing the people of South Sudan about
the value of education and how it can help improve the life of a family and, in
turn, the lives of the South Sudanese people as a whole.
In this way, South Sudan will
not only improve its own quality of living, but the country can serve as an
example for other countries with similar problems. South Sudan is definitely
making strides in the right direction in terms of human rights and development,
but it first needs to deal with issues that have been deeply rooted into the
minds of its people.
No comments:
Post a Comment