By Taban Henry
The government of the Republic of South Sudan has on Monday rubbished claims of reducing examination centres in some states.
This was revealed during the official launching of the South Sudan Certificate Secondary Education Wednesday at Juba Technical School as candidates start S.4 national examination.
Earlier, more than 200 secondary school candidates in Unity state were said to likely to miss examination due to conflict, after the National Examination Council reduced its centres in the area.
This is after the national examination council had reduced the number of examination centres to 3, citing insecurities and poor road networks as the major factors, the students are from the three distant counties of Panyijar, Mayendit and Koch, according to the state minister of General Education and instruction Stephen Tot Chang.
Addressing the media during the first ringing of the bell, Simon Nyok who is the South Sudan Secretary General for the National Examination Council rubbished the claims of reducing examination centres in some parts of the country.
“I would put it blindly; it was a reckless statement by the minister because we were looking for a solution to see that exams reach to every corner of the country. We are not politicians; we are technocrats who have no problem with every part of the country,” he stated.
Nyok hinted out that after the state made the statement it was not good to hear and therefore he did not make any comment citing that he finally visited the area while mentioning that the plane could not land for the first day but on Sunday they were able to make it, everybody was very happy that their children are now going to sit for examination.
“Any person who has been prepared, as a candidate has the right to sit for exams and that is what we have been perusing all along,” he added.
Earlier according to reports circulating on social media, the Minister of Education and Instruction wrote an open letter to Eastern Equatoria State’s Governor Louis Lobong indicating that only Nimule, Torit and Kapoeta will be used as centres for this year’s secondary examinations. This was after the National Examination Council disbanded 24 centres in the state and maintained only three.
Authorities in Eastern Equatoria later called on the National Ministry of General Education and Instruction to reverse its decision to reduce the number of examination centres in the state.