According to the South Sudan Education Sector Analysis (2016) school coverage rates in South Sudan remain well below the regional average with Gross Enrolment Rates (GER) of 10 per cent at the pre-primary level and 57 per cent at the primary level. The current trend in female enrolment is particularly disconcerting with the Gender Parity Index (GPI) going from 0.75 at primary to 0.57 at the secondary level. According to the 2017 Education Cluster Assessment, 26 per cent of functional schools have been affected by attacks on education during the year with the most commonly reported incidences being theft and looting by armed forces/groups. InSouth Sudan, less than 1% of girls complete secondary school and only 10% of teachers are women. Decades of civil war coupled with traditional cultural norms have undermined the role of women in public life and deprived most girls of the opportunity to attend school.

With this kind of uneven equilibrium in boys and girls education, SSGID believes that girls’ attainment and women empowerment will completely not be achieved if the underlying causes for this trend are not urgently addressed. SSGID’s approaches to women and girls education include:

• Championing against early marriages through advocacy, policy and community sensitization.
• Adult literacy programmes.
• Vocational training support training for youths, women and vulnerable communities
• Girl child education programmes.
• Equipping women and girls with information about their rights and promotion of advocacy among all stakeholders.