By Bida Elly David
Boys in some schools have slammed the sponsors of Girls Education in South Sudan (GESS) prioritizing female being the only beneficiaries to the yearly cash transfers knowing that other male learners have been battling financial constraints in their families.
GESS has been a yearly project meant to assist female learners who battle with domestic violence and discrimination at all aspects. The major aim of the project was basically meant to encourage girls to learn rather than dropping out from school.
Most girls in the communities of South Sudan have been challenged by numerous factors such as forceful marriages imposed by parents and guardians discouraging them from attaining education.
Despite the grants given to support them, most boys across the Country raised their concerns as to why girls have been prioritized on the offer while many boys across the Country faced the same challenges as girls do.
Speaking to No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper yesterday, Monday Nelson, a primary eight pupil from one of the schools said that the prioritization of girls by the organizations amid the cash transfer was a clear indication of high discrimination and an activity against gender.
He pointed out that most boys have become street kids and robbers due to lack of parental support and guidance creating no space of survival.
“We boys are also facing many problems just as the girls do. Many of us have become street kids just because of parental negligence and death. We need to be assisted both financially and materially to motivate learning. There are many Toronto boys in Juba just because they have no option to survive,” he said.
He further said that most projects in South Sudan have been in support of girls leaving young men and boys who have been used as tools by politicians to rebel against the nation and communities across the country.
“Many boys have turned to joined crew of niggas, became night robbers, thieves and rebels just because they have been neglected by the government, community and partners like the organization running the GESS program in South Sudan. We need to be sponsored before we act against the nation as young boys. We are all humans although we were born based on different sex,” he stressed.
Monday urged the government and international organizations to also support boys both financially and materially to mitigate the criminal activities in the country.
On his part, Peter Lado, a director of studies in one of the secondary school said that boys were not disregarded from receiving the offer but girls in the society of today have been victims to many circumstances such as early pregnancies, forceful marriages, and domestic violence among many other factors.
“Organizations are not discriminating the boys but they valued girls because of the situation they face. They battle monthly period, family negligence, and early marriages leading to school dropout. They are supported in order to progress in learning. Boys are fathers by nature who will at any time get married and care for these people. A father in the house eats the last after the wife,” he said.
The teacher called on the boys to be patient as their time of subsidy would soon clock through multiple support.
However, efforts to reach the national Ministry of General Education and Instructions regarding the matter have not been successful.