It is estimated that three quarters of the South Sudanese population is illiterate and that less than half of the children attend school.
In 2010, the Saint Vincent school was built within the Vocational Training and Community Development Center in Lologo, a slum in the capital, Juba.
It offers the eight levels of official primary education and three kindergarten classes.
It is attended by more than 1,000 local children: 760 in primary and 263 in kindergarten (statistics 2019-2020).
Half of the pupils are girls, while traditionally girls are not allowed to go to school because they have to help around the house or take care of their younger siblings.
Unlike other schools in the area, the school is affordable even for the poorest.
During the war year, it has always continued its activity , which helped to create a feeling of stability for the local population.
Initially created and administered by the local population, the Saint Vincent school has been funded by Austrian partners since 2015: Caritas Graz and Hilfswerk S.E. (ASASE donors) and Missio Austria.
This support made it possible to:
- construct permanent buildings (previously in cob);
- pay a salary to teachers (formerly volunteers);
- distribute a daily snack to the pupils (who previously had difficulty taking classes on an empty stomach);
- ensure regular training of teachers;
- provide school equipment and supplies.
As the classes were created gradually, 2017 was the first year the school welcomed its students in the last year of primary (P8).
Since then, it is one of the two schools in the capital which has achieved 100% success at the primary school final exam.
All the pupils of the first two promotions continued in secondary in various schools of Juba, in Kator (Comboni), Gudele, or Lologo1.
By offering the children of the slum access to education, the Saint Vincent School represents a resounding success of the community development project of our local partner in Juba, the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, Juba.
It is one of the few institutions to meet the enormous need of the region, knowing that an estimated 2.2 million children are out of school in the country and that the majority of them live in Juba and its surrounding areas.
1: Martyrs International, a private school, which costs the equivalent of $ 25 per year.
