Government and Promotion of the Girl Child Rights to Primary Education in Northern Bhar El Ghazal State, South Sudan

ABSTRACT The study was to examine Government and promotion of girl child rights to primary education in Northern Bhar El Ghazal State, South Sudan. The main purpose of the study examined the role that the government of Bahr Ghazal has played in promoting the right of girl children to primary education. The study used the state obligation criteria as spelt out by the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comments. The research design was a descriptive one, the reason being to describe the current situation of girl child access to education so that it can be understood clearly and the gaps identified in it can be addressed. Two research instruments namely an interview guide and focused group discussion were employed. The study findings revealed that the role played by the government to promote girl child education was inadequate. The research is an outcome type of research and in this case the population of the study in this research comprised of 100 people. The study found that girl children faced many problems, such as poverty, forced and early marriage, sexual assault and harassment by male teachers and classmate, inaccessibility of the school facilities, inadequate curriculum, inadequate staff and poor teaching methods and lack of implementation of education policy. The study concluded that the government had not addressed the criteria of accessibility, affordability and quality of education. Arising from the study, the study policy recommends the Government to design a policy to provide primary education that is free and accessible for all, with a special focus on girl children; Address the special needs of girl children in South Sudan; Allocate adequate budgetary resources for girl child education for use in putting in place infrastructure for girl child education, recruitment and training of teachers and raising awareness on the rights of girl children to education; and enact a law that undermines the prevalent cultural practices that keep girl children outside school. Finally, the most pressing area for further research is to establish the effect of the civil war on the girl child access to primary education in South Sudan. Another study should look at the role of the INGOs and Civil Society Organizations and girl child access to both primary and secondary education.