South Sudan’s children have to choose between school or work for food
In South Sudan just 27 percent of the country’s population of 11.2 million people can read and write, according to the World Bank. It is worse for women and girls with just two in every 10 considered literate. PHOTO | AFP
When Deng Akech was three, South Sudan descended into civil war, just two years after gaining independence from Sudan. Now 10, Deng should be at school and gearing for the country’s independence celebrations on July 9. Instead, he is making bricks for a living together with his mother and two brothers.
“I dropped out of school last year after the coronavirus hit, and I have not gone back because there is no one to pay my school fees,” he told The EastAfrican.
