SCHOOL ASSESSMENT REPORT

EASTERN STATE

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Table of contents

1. INTRODUCTION and RATIONALE • The purpose of the survey ……………………………………………..……………………..…………3 • Methodology: ………………………………………………………..………………….….….…………3 • AVSI………………………………………………………………………………………………………..3 • Overall Education Conditions in ………………………………………………..4 • Key findings ………………………………………………………………………………………………5 • Recommendations………………………………………………………………..…………………….5-6

2. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION …………………………………………… ………….7

3. ENROLLMENT AND ATTENDENCE • Pre-primary enrolment: ……………………………….………………………………………..………9 • Primary enrolment: ……………………………………………………….…………..……………….10 • Secondary enrolment ………………………………………………………………….……………… 11 • Teacher’ enrolment: …………………………………………………………………..…………...11-12 • Percentage of teachers attending school daily………………………. ……….………………..13-14

4. FUNCTIONING SCHOOLS……………………………………………………………………...15

5. GRADES AND CYCLES OF EDUCATION OFFERED • Classes offered in nursery: ………………………………………………………………………..….16 • Classes offered in P.1- P.3: ……………………...... 15 • Classes offered in P.4- P.6: …………………………………………………………….…………… 16 • Classes offered from P.7-P.8: …………………………………………………..…………….… 16-17 • Classes offered S.1-S.4: ………………………………………………………….…..………….…… 17

6. PHISCAL INFRASTRUCTURE, EQUIPMENT AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES • School infrastructure: ………………………………………………………………………...20 • Primary Schools that received WASH/HYGIENE, Recreational and teaching materials per county: ……………………………………………………………………………………………..….…21 • Number of functioning latrines per county: ………………………………………………..……….21 • Number of school good fence per county: ……………………………………………….………….23 • Classes with NO blackboard: ………………………………………………..………….……………23 • Classes with No benches/desks: ………………………………………………………..……………..25 • Access to clean water: …………………………………………………………………………………26

7. TRAINING AND SOFT SUPPORT TO SCHOOLS • Trainings offered to teachers and SMC/PTA: …………………………………………………….…26 • Schools that received visits from county officials/inspections: …………………………………...27 • GESS & IMPACT……………………………………………………………………………………….28

• Acknowledgment: This report was made possible thanks to the kind contribution of UNICEF

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1. INTRODUCTION and RATIONALE

This report is derived from the rapid assessment conducted during the distribution of new South curriculum text books in Eastern Equatoria State during the months of February and March 2020. The 209 schools assessed are located all across the State as per the following map:

Figure 1. Location of schools assessed by AVSI

AVSI Education response in Eastern Equatoria:

- AVSI is implementing education projects in 7 counties out of 8 with different education projects. In greater , UNICEF6 since 2017-2020 (Magwi, , East, Kapoeta South, Lopa-Lafon and Ikwoto counties), ECW1 2020-2023 (Magwi and Kapoeta North), EU Brice (Torit and Ikwoto counties), DSP (Ikwoto and Magwi counties), SSHF (Kapoeta East). - Being major education implementer in Eastern Equatoria State, AVSI led the distribution of new curriculum in the state with support from UNICEF. -

Purpose of the assessment:

- To provide AVSI a general picture of the education needs in Eastern Equatoria state; - To have a well detailed school profile of the majority of schools in Eastern Equatoria state, in order to understand the specific needs at school and county level; - To support the MoE of EES in gathering information about education needs in the state; - To have an informed project management in order to guarantee the adaptability of the projects to the raising needs

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Methodology of the assessment:

- The data were collected using rapid assessment form developed by AVSI M&E department during the implementation of education projects. The data collected have been entered in MEAL tools/data base for their further analysis. - Questions have been asked by AVSI staff and a representative of the SMoE to the Head Teachers of the schools. - The total number of schools reached during the distribution of textbook was 222 primary schools and 29 secondary schools in the whole EES. Among them: 64 primary schools and 6 secondary schools in former and 158 primary schools and 23 secondary schools in former Torit State. Out of the schools reached, AVSI managed to assess 209 (95%) schools (see Figure 1 for a more detailed geographical disaggregation). - ALP centres and TVET have not been included in this research.

Background: main drivers of education conditions in EES

Figure 2. Education conditions in the past and in 2017.

Figure 3. Education conditions in the past and in 2020.

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Key findings

❑ Pre-primary sections are more vulnerable compared to primary sections in term of facilities like latrines, classrooms, teachers, teaching and learning materials. They all share the few available facilities with primary classes. Nursery sections have few ECD teachers, they depend on primary teachers who are even volunteers with limited teaching skills. The available trained ECD teachers are concentrated only in urban schools and mostly in private schools. ❑ More volunteer teachers compared to government/ paid teachers; this is because government teachers deserted teaching professions due to lack of salaries/low salaries which is even not paid in time as required leaving schools with more volunteers. ❑ High enrolment gap between boys and girls. There are more boys enrolled in schools compared to girls in all levels. In nursery the gap is 4%, in primary 10% and in secondary the gap is 28%. This also account for higher dropout rate in girls than boys. ❑ Urban schools are more favoured in term of constructions, supplies and allocation of teachers. This why there are more temporary structures and high number of classrooms under trees in rural schools. ❑ Low numbers of female teachers registered in eastern Equatorial states. Female teachers account to 26% and out of which 18% are volunteers.

Recommendations

❑ As one of the main partner of UNICEF in EES, and the state Education Cluster lead, AVSI calls for extending education response to underserved communities in rural areas (i.e. Lopa, non-urban areas in Magwi, and Torit – in Nord and East Kapoeta AVSI is already doing it with ECW and SSHF), favoring areas where potential for come back for returnees is higher (i.e. & Magwi), with an explicit focus on attending needs of early child /lower primary education as much as primary competition, and an attention to containing the cost of education for families through MoU with schools bound to development plan and ceiling of school fees

❑ Construction of schools and related facilities must go hand in hand with an active engagement of the communities and support to teachers. In some places, like some communities in Kapoeta region, what is missing is not schools, which are already well equipped (teacher quarters, dining hall, dormitories, chain link fences, etc.) but left abandoned; what is missing is teachers and community mobilization.

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❑ IMPACT is not enough to retain teachers in schools; hence the quality of education continues to worsen. Donors and international institutions should really prioritize payment of teachers. The 40 USD provided to teachers, once the bank rate is applied, leaves very little to teachers: the money received by a teacher in three months will not be enough to pay 50kg of maize flour.

❑ There is need to support and hire more female teachers, considered their low enrolment in the schools in all the 8 counties of the state.

❑ Provision of furniture to schools should take place only in schools that are patently functioning and established. In case the school management is very weak and there is no awareness in the community, the furniture can be spoiled, destroyed or looted by the communities themselves as it has occurred in many schools in Kapoeta North and Kapoeta East counties.

❑ To strengthen government supervision, through support of County and Payams Education departments. In fact, in most cases, county staff belong to the communities and they are highly respected by teachers and school administration. It is extremely important

❑ In pastoralist communities, education methods should be adapted to the local context, especially in rural areas. Several attempts have been tried in the last 10 years from different organizations and donors with little results. It is important to take in consideration the life-style of the communities and to develop a sustainable method of education. Alternative Education Systems (like adult literacy and numeracy, or community schools) can work better in remote areas. According to the findings, also boarding schools can work in such contexts.

❑ Considered the background of the schools in , where the majority of the teachers were from and , there is need to give priority to recruitment (and payment) of teachers from other areas in Eastern Equatoria. In fact, due to the devaluation of the currency, the majority of the teachers went back to their countries and the local communities do not have enough skilled youth to teach in the schools. It is extremely common to find schools with well-established facilities, even in rural areas, but not functioning, due to lack of teachers.

❑ Finally, while planning for pastoralist education it is extremely important to include ‘’water for education’’.

❑ AVSI has showed will and capacity to balance costs and approaches to serve urban as well as semi-urban and rural areas, showing significant impact. Moreover, AVSI is capable to provide a consistent and continuous response (“parachuted” partners and/or short-term programs cannot have; in 2017 AVSI was the only active partner in education in Magwi).

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2. SCHOOLS GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

Out of 244 functioning schools AVSI conducted 209 assessments, 90%

In Magwi, Torit, and Kapoeta East and South there is a significant concentration of schools in one central settlement. In Ikwoto, Lopa/Lafon and Kapoeta North schools are more equally distributed. One policy objective in Magwi, Torit, and Kapoeta East and South is to support the reopening of schools in rural areas.

Figure 1. Schools assessed by county and payam.

Primaries COUNTY # of schools Magwi 61 Payam # of schools Payam # of schools Ikwoto 42 Himodonge 3 Iwire 8 Torit 31 Hiyala 6 Lobone 6 Lopa/Lafon 25 Kudo 1 Magwi 12 Kapoeta East 20 Nyong 21 25 Budi 15 Grand Total 31 Obbo 8 Kapoeta South 9 Pajok 1 Kapoeta North 7 Palwar 1 Grand Total 209 Grand Total 61

Kapoeta North County Payam # of schools Payam # of schools Payam # of schools Lomoyen 1 Katiko 2 Katodore 1 Korkamuge 1 Morukuron 1 Kuron 1 Lokwamor 1 Town 6 Lotien 1 Paringa 2 Grand Total 9 Lotimor 1 Najjie 2 Mogos 2 Grand Total 7 1 Narus 13 Grand Total 20

Budi County Lopa/ Ikwoto County # of Payam # of schools Payam # of schools Payam schools Arilo 1 Bira 2 Homiri 5 Bule 2 Chahari 2 Kimotong 2 Dorik 2 Ikwoto 16 Lotukei 6 Imehejek 3 Imotong 5 Loriyok 2 Kurumi 3 Hatire 3 Grand Total 15 Liful 1 Lomohidang North 8 Lohutok 4 Lomohidang South 2 Longiro 5 Losite 4 Obunge 3 Grand Total 42 Grand Total 24

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Majority of the functioning schools in Torit, Kapoeta South and Kapoeta East counties are located withing the main towns, respectively Torit, Kapoeta and Narus.

In these counties there is high need to support schools located out of the main centers:

- In former Torit West county, majority of the schools shut down with the crisis of 2016 and up to now they still remain not functioning a part from Imurok, Kudo and St. Peter the Clever. The lack of teacher remains the main challenge to allow the schools to start to operate.

- In Kapoeta East, the schools out of Narus that are really functioning are St. Thomas Kuron supported by the Emeritus Bishop Paride Taban, Mogos, Napotpot and PS. All the other schools that have been established by the church (like Lolim, Kaldo, Kalacha, Namoropus, Napwatasigiria, Nanyangachor and Lotimor) are always on and off due to the lack of teachers. In fact, before the crisis majority of the teachers in the schools were from Kenya and Uganda and they have been forced to leave due to the decreasing value of the SSP. At the moment, the communities are not having enough literate people to run the schools.

- In Magwi county, the functioning schools are located in former Magwi and Ayacii counties, while in Pageri county the operative schools are only within Nimule town and in Moli Tukuru. This scenario is the result of the crisis of 2016 that has forced many people to leave to the camps and many schools along -Nimule highway have been looted/destroyed during the clashes (Pageri, Dereto, Loa, etc). The presence of soldiers patrolling the highway is one of the main reasons that prevents the refugees to come back to their villages. At the same time, considered the destruction of the main facilities (schools, clinics, markets, etc) people are preferring to send their children to the schools in the camps rather then coming back and not accessing any kind of service.

A different scenario is witnessed in Ikwoto and Lopa Lafon county where there are not big urban centers and there is high concentration of rural and community schools:

- In Lopa-Lafon, majority of the functioning schools are located in the Lopit corridor, rather than in Lafon (where only Lafon Central has been witnessed to be really functioning). These schools have been initiated by the communities and have very poor facilities but high number of children, mostly in lower classes. The community engagement and commitment of the volunteers deserve a better support from the education partners. The main challenge in the area remains the accessibility, considered that roads are not accessible for good months of the years during rainy season.

- In Ikwoto county schools are generally functioning in the side of Geria and Ikwoto, while more challenges are witnessed in the side of Kidepo valley. The presence of AVSI since 1992 in supporting education could be one of the main factors to promote awareness for education in the county.

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3. ENROLMENT AND ATTENDENCE ENROLMENT1

The data base captured enrolment of children and teachers from all the schools reached during text books distribution. The aim is to know the statistic of children and teachers in schools of Eastern Equatoria for accountability, and future planning purposes in AVSI’ scaling up its operations in the states. The MEAL tool looks at two enrolment statistics of children and that of teachers.

a) Pre-primary Education

The total number of children enrolled in Nursery school is 19.217 children: 10.087 male and 9.130 female in all the counties as indicated on the table below

Kapoeta Kapoeta Kapoeta Lopa/ Enrolment Budi Ikwoto Magwi Torit Total East North South Lafon Female 837 1701 646 375 432 1389 2087 1663 9130 Male 565 2150 599 393 487 1579 2622 1692 10087 Total 1.402 3.851 1.245 768 919 2.968 4.709 3.355 19.217

It is important to consider this data with caution. Most of the times, teachers are poor in record keeping and they use to combine nursery classes together with P1.

It worth to mention that in Lopa there is not a real ECD section established in any of the schools, but teachers were considering younger children (below 5) enrolled in P1 as nursery pupils. In Kapoeta North, the data are mostly related to the nursery of St. Mary Magdalene Boarding school, the only really functioning school in the county.

ECD still remain a big challenge in the state, due also to a limited number of available and trained teachers. Furthermore, majority of the schools are not having good facilities and furniture to accommodate the pupils, that are often left under trees with no teaching taking place.

Pre-primary enrolment 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Budi Ikwoto Kapoeta East Kapoeta Kapoeta Lopa/Lafon Magwi Torit North South female no./male

1 It is important to take in consideration that record keeping is not accurate in most of the schools due to limited capacity of the teachers and the tendency to inflate the real data. For this reason the following statistics should be considered with as indicative and with a possible margin of error.

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% enrolment btn male and female

Female, Male, 48% 52%

b) Primary enrolment

Row Labels Enrolment primary no./female Enrolment primary no./male Budi 3056 3145 Ikwoto 5587 7714 Kapoeta East 2901 3498 Kapoeta North 1121 1305 Kapoeta South 1910 1984 Lopa/Lafon 5115 6108 Magwi 8701 11151 Torit 6287 6749 Grand Total 34678 41654

Enrolment per County 12000 11151

10000 8701 7714 8000 6749 6108 6287 5587 6000 5115 3498 4000 30563145 2901 19101984 2000 11211305 0 Budi Ikwoto Kapoeta East Kapoeta Kapoeta Lopa/Lafon Magwi Torit North South

Sum of Enrollment primary no./female Sum of Enrollment primary no./male

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% DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE STUDENTS IN PRIMARY LEVEL

Male 55% Female45%

The enrolment in primary schools is more desired/interesting in whole of Eastern Equatoria counties, though there has been slight improvement compared with the past years. The assessment result portrays contained disparities between boys and girls enrolment across counties. The statically analysis shows that boys are more enrolled (55%) than girls (45%), creating a gap of 10%. The interesting part is in the lower classes P.1- P4 girls’ enrolment is promising but it keeps widening in upper classes (P.5-P.8). There are series of issues associated with these problems:

- Late entrance into school by girls. By the time they reach upper classes (17-20 yrs) and in most communities once a girl reaches the age of 10 and above, she is eligible to get married hence increased cases of forced, early marriages and pregnancies. - Low number of qualified teachers. Below analysis shows that the number of qualifies teachers are lower (18%- 7% female and 11% male) than to those of unqualified/volunteers (82%) and low percentage of female teachers in schools. The teachers handling this section of children have no knowledge to support girls in schools hence increasing drop out. It is one of the factors that affected general enrolment. - Lower primary. These are schools that offer only lower classes eg p.1-14 or P.5, once a child reaches that level and there is no nearby schools automatically that child will drop out and for girls worst since they can easily be tempted into early marriage. - Lack/insufficient of facilities. These facilities range from classrooms, latrines to teaching and learning materials. In Eastern Equatoria, there is a lot of challenges in schools as far as facilities is concerned. Out of 1724 classrooms, 231 are under trees classrooms, 232 are local made classrooms, 357 are semi classrooms and 904 are permanent classrooms. The funny part is upper classes sit in permanent classrooms while lower classes sit under trees thus in some counties like Magwi the enrolment is in diagonal pyramid meaning less enrolment at the bottom, big in the middle and small in upper classes. The higher the number of classrooms in concrete, the higher the enrolment and verse versa.

904 (52%) 357 (21%) 232(14%) 231 (13%) Semi-permanent Classrooms built in Classrooms under the Concrete classrooms facilities local materials trees

Despite these data can show that 52% of the classroom facilities are in concrete, it is important to consider that schools under the trees use to have a smaller number of classes, reaching mostly up to P4. In addition, lower classes are the ones that are the most affected considered that generally teachers use to assign better facilities to the upper classes.

c) Secondary enrolment

In total in EES we have 31 secondary schools, of whom 12 in Magwi county, 7 in Ikwoto, 6 in Torit, 3 in Kapoeta East, 2 in Budi and 1 in Kapoeta South. No secondary schools are available in Lopa (Imehejek SS is closed) and Kapoeta North. In Torit, the only rural secondary school is Hiyala SS that is not clearly operating due to lack of teachers and insecurity; all the other 5 schools are within Torit center. Nimule results to be the town with highest number of secondary schools (6).

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Row Labels Enrolment secondary no./male Enrolment secondary no./female Budi 357 202 Ikwoto 890 519 Kapoeta East 1420 872 Kapoeta North 0 0 Kapoeta South 144 44 Lopa/Lafon 0 0 Magwi 1747 874 Torit 719 357 Grand Total 5133 3109

Kapoeta North and Lopa-Lafon are the two counties with no secondary schools available. In both the cases, there was a secondary school (in and Imehejek) but it shut down due to lack of support and motivation for teachers. There is high need to reactivate these schools in order to ensure transition from primary to secondary level in the 2 counties. Finally, Kapoeta South is having only a secondary school that it is often on and off, also due to lack of teachers. Most of the students from KN and KS counties are forced to move to Narus, in Kapoeta East county, to receive secondary education.

% ENROLMENT OF MALE AND FEMALE IN SECONDARY

Enrolment secondary no./female 35%

Enrolment secondary no./male 65%

Compared with primary section and nursery, the different between male and female enrolment in secondary is huge (30%) to that in primary 10% and 4% in nursery respectively. This shows that transition to secondary education is much more complicated for girls rather than for boys and partners should strengthen the support in this area. Furthermore, this lack of transition of female students has bad repercussions on the availability of female teachers as showed by the tables below.

d) Teachers’ enrolment

In Eastern Equatoria State, the enrolment of volunteer teachers is much higher than that of government/ paid teachers. Out of 2.011 teachers identified in the schools reached during the distribution, 1.634 are volunteers (82%), while government/paid teachers are only the 18%, with male teachers dominating up to 74% thus female teachers is 26%.

This explain the fact that government teachers deserted schools and joined other works giving excuse of inadequate salaries and the payment take long times. IMPACT itself is not enough to motivate teachers to stay in the schools.

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Tables showing number of government and volunteer teachers per county:

Number of government teachers per county

Kapoeta Kapoeta Kapoeta Grand SEX Budi Ikwoto East North South Lopa/Lafon Magwi Torit Total Male 15 42 20 6 9 24 59 31 206 Female 4 33 16 10 4 5 42 57 171 Total 19 75 36 16 13 29 101 88 377

Number of volunteer teachers per county

Kapoeta Kapoeta Kapoeta Grand SEX Budi Ikwoto East North South Lopa/Lafon Magwi Torit Total Male 63 269 100 22 52 130 418 225 1279 Female 16 46 32 2 17 19 151 72 355 Total 79 315 132 24 69 149 569 297 1634

% OF GOVT AND VOLUNTEER TEACHERS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL , Volunteer Govt teacher male teacher's Female 10% 18% Govt teachers' female 8%

Volunteer teacher Male, 64%

GOVT TEACHERS VS VOLUNTEER TEACHERS 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 GOVT TEACHERS VOLUNTEER TEACHERS

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e) Teachers Attendance2

Sum of Percentage % of teachers attending school daily of teachers attending school 100% 80% County daily 60% Magwi 70% 40% Ikwoto 75% 20% Torit 85% 0% Kapoeta East 52% Lopa/Lafon 80% Budi 70% Kapoeta South 57% Kapoeta North 20% Grand Total • The above analysis shows the attendance of teachers daily in schools. It is just a comparison of teachers’ daily school attendance between counties in order to give highlight of which county has poor teachers’ attendance. Below are some justifications of variations in teachers’ daily school attendance.

Looking at the above table, definitely you cannot compare the teachers’ daily attendance of Magwi with any of the county because they have more functioning schools.

✓ Lack of payment of salaries. This apply to all schools in Eastern Equatoria, delayed payment of teachers’ salaries leads to absenteeism of teachers in schools since they would wish to do other activities like agriculture to raise for the income. ✓ Volunteers teachers. Most teachers are untrained and lack basic knowledge of code of conduct, they come to schools as they want since they are not paid, it become very difficult for the head teachers to supervise such kind of teachers. ✓ Lack of adequate supervision of schools by Education authorities in the county and Payam. ✓ Lack of facilities in some schools in the counties like classrooms, teaching and learning materials, staff offices this in most cases discourage teachers from attending schools daily especially during raining season. ✓ Difficulty in school accessibility. Most of the counties have schools that are very difficult to access, they are located in remote areas. It’s very difficult to teachers to move like daily to schools given poor mean of transport.

IMPORTANT: Despite 152 schools out of the 209 analysed declared to have received IMPACT, the incentives are not enough to motivate teachers, especially in urban areas. In fact, the dropping rate of the SSP and the increasing gap between the bank rate and the black-market rate is allowing teachers to get a bit more than 2000 SSP per month that it is absolutely not enough to retain them in the schools.

2 The attendance is based on an estimation of the people interviewed, mostly Head Teachers and Deputy HT.

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4. FUNCTIONING SCHOOLS

The crisis that starts in 2013 until 2016 led to destruction of schools as well as displacement of communities and consequently many schools shut down in Eastern Equatoria state, as in the whole country. Due to stabilization from 2017 to 2019, some schools were opened and hence increment in the number of schools (2017 is 174, 2018 is 182, and in 2019 is 189), this trend is promising and hopefully all schools will be reopened.

The table shows trend of schools from 2017 to 2019 in Eastern Equatoria

Sum of School Counties Functioning/2019 Sum of School Functioning/2018 Sum of School Functioning/ 2017 Budi 14 13 13 Ikwoto 40 40 39 Kapoeta East 18 13 12 Kapoeta North 5 5 5 Kapoeta South 9 9 9 Lopa/Lafon 19 20 21 Magwi 55 53 46 Torit 31 31 30 Grand Total 191 184 175

Magwi county is the area with the highest increment of functioning schools since 2017, due to the improved security in the area and a high number of people returning from the camps.

The only county with a negative result in terms of reduced functioning schools is Lopa-Lafon, probably due to the extremely limited Education services provided in the county.

In Kapoeta North there is not a clear understanding if the schools assessed are really functioning. The only clearly operational is St. Mary Magdalene boarding PS in Riwoto and Paringa is often on and off. Riwoto PS is functioning but teachers are often absent and no classes are taking place for majority of the year. All the other schools are not functioning, despite the head teachers reported them as operational.

LOCATION OF FUNCTIONING SCHOOLS PER COUNTY IN 2019 Budi Torit 7% 16%

Ikwoto 21%

Magwi Kapoeta East 28% 9%

Kapoeta North 3% Lopa/Lafon Kapoeta South 10% 5%

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5. GRADES AND CYCLES OF EDUCATION OFFERED

Classes offered in nursery and primary

Classes offered K1- K33

County Sum of Classes Offered/baby Sum of Classes Offered/Middle Sum of Classes Offered/Top Magwi 35 31 28 Ikwoto 26 23 23 Torit 20 21 21 Kapoeta East 16 11 17 Kapoeta South 7 6 7 Kapoeta North 6 6 6 Lopa/Lafon 4 6 6 Budi 3 4 6 Grand Total 117 108 114

Classes offered in Nursery 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Magwi Ikwoto Torit Kapoeta East Kapoeta SouthKapoeta North Lopa/Lafon Budi

Classes offered P1- P.3

In lower primary (P.1-P.3) the classes offered varies in descending manner (see the graph below) more classes are offered in P.3 then P.2 and few in P.1. This clearly explains the fact that lower classes especially P.1 conduct their lessons under trees consequently it is one of the reasons for low enrolment in lower classes in Magwi, Torit due to un conduciveness and is not applicable during raining season.

County Sum of Classes Offered/P1 Sum of Classes Offered/P2 Count of Classes Offered/P3 Magwi 49 49 49 Ikwoto 35 35 35 Torit 25 25 25 Lopa/Lafon 24 24 24 Kapoeta East 17 16 16 Budi 14 14 14 Kapoeta South 8 8 8 Kapoeta North 6 6 6 Grand Total 178 177 177

3 In some cases, schools having only Top class in the nursery section, with all the ECD children combined in that, this is why it can appear that the number of top-classes is higher than the one of baby class

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Classes offered P.1 P.2 and P.3

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 Magwi Ikwoto Torit Lopa/Lafon Kapoeta East Budi Kapoeta Kapoeta South North

Sum of Classes Offered/P1 Sum of Classes Offered/P2 Count of Classes Offered/P3

Classes offered P.4-P.6

County Sum of Classes Offered/P4 Sum of Classes Offered/P5 Sum of Classes Offered/P6 Magwi 47 45 43 Ikwoto 35 34 31 Torit 25 22 21 Lopa/Lafon 22 22 18 Kapoeta East 15 10 10 Budi 14 13 12 Kapoeta South 8 7 7 Kapoeta North 6 5 4 Grand Total 172 158 146

Classes offered P.4- P.6 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15

Noof schools 10 5 0 Magwi Ikwoto Torit Lopa/Lafon Kapoeta East Budi Kapoeta Kapoeta South North Counties Sum of Classes Offered/P4 Sum of Classes Offered/P5 Sum of Classes Offered/P6

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Classes offered P.7- P.8

Row Labels Sum of Classes Offered/P7 Sum of Classes Offered/P8 Magwi 39 35 Ikwoto 24 23 Torit 19 16 Lopa/Lafon 17 12 Budi 10 8 Kapoeta South 7 6 Kapoeta East 7 7 Kapoeta North 3 2 Grand Total 126 109

Classes offered P.7- P.8

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Magwi Ikwoto Torit Lopa/Lafon Budi Kapoeta Kapoeta East Kapoeta South North

Sum of Classes Offered/P7 Sum of Classes Offered/P8

In lower primary (P.1, P.2, P.3) classes offered is in ascending order, P.1 have more classrooms followed by P.2 and P.3. Generally, classes offered in schools in Eastern Equatoria increases from lower classes and reduces from middle to upper classes.

The graphic shows that the upper classes are less in the 4 counties in Greater Kapoeta, where the transition to secondary school is also witnessed to be limited. In fact, secondary schools in the region are present only in Kapoeta East (3 secondary schools), Kapoeta South (1) and Budi (2). No Secondary schools are present in .

Classes P.1 P.2 P.3 P.4 P.5 P.6 P.7 P.8 Total 178 177 177 172 158 146 126 109 More classes offered in lower primary

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Classes offered S.1-S.4

Count of Classes Sum of Classes Sum of Classes Sum of Classes County Offered/S1 Offered/S2 Offered/S3 Offered/S4 Budi 2 2 2 2 Ikwoto 7 6 6 5 Kapoeta East 3 3 2 2 Kapoeta North 0 0 0 0 Kapoeta South 1 1 1 1 Lopa/Lafon 0 0 0 0 Magwi 12 12 9 8 Torit 6 6 4 4 Grand Total 31 30 24 22

% OF CLASSES IN SECONDARY Sum of Classes Offered/S4, Count of 21% Classes Offered/S1, 29%

Sum of Classes Offered/S3, 22% Sum of Classes Offered/S2, 28%

The case of classes offered in secondary schools, is completely opposite to that of primary. In secondary schools, more classes are offered in lower classes than in upper classes. The number of classes keeps reduces as you move from S.1 to S.4. (S.1 29%, S.2 28%, S.3 22% and S.4 21%).

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6. PHISICAL INFRASTRUCTURE, EQUIPMENT AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Despite the classes offered in schools, the classes are composed of many types eg concrete classes, semi- permanent, local material classes and under trees classes as seen in the table below. Out of 1724 classrooms, 231 are under trees classrooms, 232 are local made classrooms, 357 are semi classrooms and 904 are permanent classrooms. The funny part is upper classes sit in permanent classrooms while lower classes sit under trees thus in some counties like Magwi the enrolment is in diagonal pyramid meaning less enrolment at the bottom, big in the middle and small in upper classes. The higher the number of classrooms in concrete, the higher the enrolment and verse versa.

School infrastructures Sum of No. of semi- Sum of No. of classes in permanent learning Sum of No. of classes Sum of No. of classes County concrete building spaces in local material under tree Budi 71 21 13 16 Ikwoto 159 48 80 58 Kapoeta East 99 52 1 17 Kapoeta North 44 4 0 3 Kapoeta South 42 20 2 4 Lopa/Lafon 74 7 35 56 Magwi 266 136 73 38 Torit 149 69 28 39 Grand Total 904 357 232 231

% OF TYPES OF CLASSES OFFERED IN PRIMARY Sum of No. of classes under tree 13%

Sum of No. of Sum of No. of classes in local classes in material 14% concrete building 52%

Sum of No. of semi-permanent learning spaces 21%

The statistics shows that majority of the schools in Kapoeta region are permanent and are having appropriate facilities (inclusive of teachers’ quarters). Considered the limited number of functioning schools and the limited awareness for education, AVSI is supporting the idea of promoting different kind of activities in the region, rather than building schools, that can be very costly and have limited impact on the education system.

On the opposite side, constructions are really needed in counties like Lopa and Ikwoto, where there is a high number of community schools that deserve support. In fact, in both the county the number of classes under tree is much higher compared to the other counties in the state.

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Magwi remains the county with high needs, considered the high number of children enrolled in the schools (including in rural areas) and the expected returnees to come back from the camps in Uganda.

Primary Schools that received WASH/HYGIENE, Recreational and teaching materials per county

The schools that received hygiene, recreational materials and teaching materials were few last year, out of 207 schools reached in 2019 only 102 received hygiene supplies, 75 received recreational materials and 131 received teaching materials, and these schools did not received full components of those supplies as required. The assessment found limited education partners on ground except AVSI- PENCILS project funded by UNICEF that is supporting most of the schools with hygiene supplies as well as teaching and learning materials.

Having limited partners created greater needs in schools and have deteriorated quality services provided in the state.

The table below shows the number of schools benefited from materials supplied per county

Sum of In 2019, received Sum of In 2019, received Sum of In 2019, Received County WASH/hygiene supplies? recreational material? teaching material? Budi 7 5 9 Ikwoto 21 14 26 Kapoeta East 9 4 14 Kapoeta North 4 4 5 Kapoeta South 8 4 8 Lopa/Lafon 18 18 21 Magwi 21 15 34 Torit 14 11 14 Grand Total 102 75 131

Number of functioning latrines per county

Sum of No. of functioning Sum of No. of functioning Sum of No. of functioning County latrines/girls latrines/boys latrines/teachers Budi 35 30 21 Ikwoto 79 83 55 Kapoeta East 60 61 27 Kapoeta North 9 9 3 Kapoeta South 32 22 19 Lopa/Lafon 64 60 46 Magwi 136 129 71 Torit 66 62 34 Grand Total 481 456 276

It is possible that the number of latrines for teachers is not accurate, because in most of the school’s teachers are lacking latrines and they use to share one stance from the latrines of the students.

In Lopa almost all the schools are having a locally built (grass thatch) latrine built by the community, but most of the times it is respecting adequate standards.

IMPORTANT: Constructions of latrines, especially in rural areas, must take place after a deep awareness campaigns in the communities. Many populations, especially among the Toposa, Buya and Lopit, are used to open defecation and it is considered a shame to be seen using the toilet. In fat, it is witnessed that most of the latrines available in the schools (for example in Kapoeta North) are used by the local communities and they have been looted (doors and iron sheets removed).

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Finally, also the standard of latrine should match with the level of awareness of each community. It was witnessed that 2 blocks of latrine with running water were built in Riwoto, but they have been completely spoiled by the community. Eco-san latrines are more suitable for rural areas, where the human waste can be used as manure for the school gardens. In rural areas (mostly Torit and Kapoeta), where sewing machines are available there is need to think about the establishment of latrines that can be emptied once they are full: this will reduce the cost of building additional blocks in the same schools.

Ratio of latrine primary/pre primary

category Girls Boys Teachers Total enrolment 43803 51741 1032 Number of Latrine 405 393 230 Ratio 1:108 1:132 1:4

Ratio Latrine secondary

category Girls Boys Teachers Total enrolment 3109 5133 260 Number of Latrine 76 63 38 Ratio 1:41 1:82 1:7

The ratio of teachers’ latrine is may present some mistakes because during the assessment there were few and in most schools, there are no specific latrines for teachers, but teachers share latrines with children but with separate stanches.

% OF FUNCTIONAL LATRINES FOR GIRLS,BOYS AND TEACHERS

Sum of No. of functioning Sum of No. of latrines/teachers functioning 23% latrines/girls 39%

Sum of No. of functioning latrines/boys 38%

Sum of No. of functioning Sum of No. of functioning Sum of No. of functioning Grade latrines/girls latrines/boys latrines/teachers PS 405 393 230 SS 76 63 38 Grand Total 481 456 268

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County Ratio latrines/girls Ratio latrines/boys Ratio latrines/teachers Budi 87.31 104.83 4.67 Ikwoto 70.72 92.94 7.09 Kapoeta East 34.85 57.34 6.22 Kapoeta North 41.52 45 4.44 Kapoeta South 59.69 90.18 4.32 Lopa/Lafon 79.92 101.8 3.87 Magwi 63.98 86.44 9.44 Torit 95.26 108.85 10.53 Ikwoto 70.72 92.94 7.09 Average EES 75.50 97.54 7.21

Number of school good fence per county

Sum of Good school Number of schools with good fence per county County fence? 30 Magwi 17 25 Ikwoto 24 20 15 Lopa/Lafon 1 10 Torit 18 5 Kapoeta East 11 0 Kapoeta South 3 Budi 5 Kapoeta North 2 Grand Total 81

Fences are useful to control children and to provide a safe learning environment. According to the data collection, only 81 schools out of 209 are provided of a fence.

Based on the findings, the counties with high number of fences are the ones with high number of urban schools (like Magwi and Torit). Ikwoto is the only county with rural schools provided by fences.

In Kapoeta North and South many fences have been destroyed by the local populations like in Riwoto PS and Kapoeta Mixed and Kapoeta SS.

Lopa-Lafon with the highest number of community school is having only one fence in a church supported school in Lohutok.

Classes with NO blackboards

Sum of No. of classes 120 County with NO blackboard 100 Magwi 94 80 Ikwoto 83 60 40 Lopa/Lafon 52 20 Torit 43 0 Kapoeta East 28 Budi 24 Kapoeta North 15 Kapoeta South 14 Grand Total 353

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Lopa-Lafon results to be the county with the most severe lack of blackboards, if related to the number of functioning schools. It is highly recommended to provide the schools with enough blackboards in order to support education in the county. Considered the lack of proper facilities, blackboards should be metallic rather than wooden, to avoid to get spoiled by the heavy rains.

In Magwi and Ikwoto County the number of classrooms without blackboards is higher, considered the higher presence of schools.

Average of classes with NO AVERAGE CLASSES WITH NO County blackboards BLACKBOARDS PER COUNTY Ikwoto 24% Kapoeta South 21% Magwi Ikwoto Kapoeta North 29% 18% 24% Budi 20% Torit Kapoeta 29% South Kapoeta East 17% 21% Lopa/Lafon 30% Lopa/Lafo Kapoeta n North Torit 29% 30%Kapoeta 29% Magwi 18% East Budi 17% 20% Percentage of classrooms with NO 23% blackboards in EES Classes with No benches/desks

The assessment indicates low benches/ desks in most of the schools in Eastern Equatoria state, in most schools, the ratio of desks is 1:4 children and desks are more in upper primary that lower. The limited number of desks leave majority of children to sit on floor, on stones/bricks with its implication on personal hygiene.

In schools where there is presence of NGOs (those who supply desks) is a little bit different though few children have access (upper classes). This is alarming that require short time intervention if pupils are to be encouraged to continue with their education and improve their hygiene as well as creating conducive learning environment for all children.

• Lopa-Lafon confirm the severe lack of furniture and blackboards due to the high presence of community schools and the low coverage in terms of Education services from NGOs. In 2019-2020, AVSI was the only partner working in education in the county, supporting a limited number of schools. • In Kapoeta North, the lack of desks is due to the poor management of the schools and their furniture. Before providing desks in the schools in Kapoeta region, it is important that the community is seriously engaged in Education and in the maintenance of the furniture. There have been numerous cases where desks where provided but they are left abandoned in the schools (Lowayakali, Longeleya, Lolim, Kalacha, Riwoto, Lomeyen, etc) .

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% of schools with no benches/ desks per Average of classes with NO county County benches and desks Magwi Ikwoto Ikwoto 40% Ikwoto 18% 40% Kapoeta Kapoeta South 28% 40% South Kapoeta North 57% 28% Budi 34% Kapoeta East 33% Torit 42% Lopa/Lafon 62% Kapoeta Torit 42% North Magwi 18% Lopa/Lafo 57% Percentage of classrooms with NO desks n 42% 62% in EES Budi Kapoeta 34% East 33% Access to clean water

Average Time to walk to closest Access to clean water is quite a big challenge to most Row Labels functioning borehole per county of schools in Eastern Equatoria State. Children has to move long distance/km to look for water considering Magwi 7.3 minutes its implications on learning in term of time spent. Ikwoto 7.3 minutes Torit 6.4 minutes The insufficient water supply in schools affect mostly children in lower classes eg it reduces attendance since Lopa/Lafon 7 minutes younger children can move for long and can’t stay for Kapoeta East 7.3 minutes long without drinking water, it also reduces enrolment Budi 5.4 minutes rate in lower classes since parents may not send their Kapoeta South 2.4 minutes younger children in schools in fear of lack of water. This is one of the factors leading to late entrance into Kapoeta North 6.3 minutes school and low enrolment in lower primary. Average in EES 6.17

The average time spent is high per day, however, the counties with many schools, children spent more hours looking for water (more schools mean more enrolment).

• In Kapoeta South the distance is shorter considering the fact that almost all the schools are located within the town • In Magwi and Ikwoto, where there is a high percentage of rural schools, the distance to walk to the closest borehole is higher

IMPORTANT: When planning for Pastoralist education, it is a must to include Water for Education. According to the research carried out by IDI (Innovative Development Initiative) the availability of water points in the different bomas will reduce the number of children who are asked to go fetch water for cattle and human drinking and it will have also positive impact on the issue of cattle raiding, considered that people will not have to move to far grazing land, exposed to the risk of meeting neighbouring populations (like Buya, Murle, Jie) whom the Toposa are fighting with.

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7. TRAINING AND SOFT SUPPORT TO SCHOOLS

Trainings offered to teachers and SMC/PTA

There is completely handful capacity building trainings offered to teachers in Eastern Equatoria state, considering that teachers in the state are more of volunteers, with no previous experience in teaching profession, low education level. The kind of teaching is delivered to children is very poor. According to AVSI end line study in 2017, schools have improved in terms of facilities, but this did not have any positive repercussions to quality of teaching and was not enough to create a conducive learning environment. Without capacity-building trainings in education practices, the level of education cannot change. In this case there is dire need to offer teachers/schools with more trainings to improve their efficiency in teaching for the sake of quality education delivered to the students.

Equally to SMC/PTA, there is minimum trainings offered to them (see table below) few schools benefited from SMC/PTA trainings and ideally, the same schools who received trainings on education practices were the once prioritized for SMC/PTA trainings, this imply that many schools are un attended to by partners.

Sum of In 2019, teacher received training Sum of In 2019, received training for County on education practices? teachers/SMC/PTA? Budi 7 7 Ikwoto 19 21 Kapoeta East 10 13 Kapoeta North 5 5 Kapoeta South 6 8 Lopa/Lafon 20 19 Magwi 35 29 Torit 22 18 Grand Total 124 120

No of trainings offered to teachers and SMC/PTA

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Budi Ikwoto Kapoeta East Kapoeta Kapoeta Lopa/Lafon Magwi Torit North South Sum of In 2019, teacher received training on education practices? Sum of In 2019, received training for teachers/SMC/PTA? According to the findings of the research, the main trainings requested by teachers are:

- In-service trainings are the priority considered that majority of the teachers are volunteer and not trained. Considered that these trainings take 2+ years, it is important to provide teachers with capacity- building trainings mostly on classroom management, scheme of work, lesson planning, ethics. - Early Childhood Development: in the last 3 years, many schools have tried to open nursery section, facing many challenges, mostly related to the unavailability of ECD trained teachers.

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- It is important to support S4 students with pre-service trainings, so that once they are willing to go and teach in the schools, they already have a basic knowledge of teaching methods. - PTA/SMCs trainings: in most of the cases, PTA/SMCs are not aware about their role. Considered their key function as link between the schools and the communities, it is extremely important to sensitize them on school governance a and management.

Schools that received visits from county officials/inspections

Inspection is one of the core activities in education development everywhere, the more authorities are relax the more flopping occur in education and this is one of the reason leading to the collapse of education in the state. In a county where supervision is frequently conducted, the learning outcome is inevitable because it improves the commitment of teaching staff due to packages they received from inspectors.

The challenge here is that though there is some supervision, it is mostly concentrated within urban schools compared with rural schools and this explain why urban schools have good performance than rural schools.

Sum of in 2019, received visit from country Sum of schools received inspection in County officials/inspectors? 2019 Budi 12 Ikwoto 34 60 Kapoeta East 16 40 Kapoeta North 4 20 Kapoeta South 8 0 Lopa/Lafon 22 Magwi 48 Torit 26 Grand Total 170

GESS and IMPACT

GESS has been received by 163 schools out of 209 assessed.

IMPACT has been delivered to 151 schools out of the 209 assessed.

County IMPACT GESS Magwi 42 43 Torit 22 24 Ikwoto 28 39 Lopa-Lafon 21 20 Kapoeta South 8 8 Kapoeta East 13 14 Kapoeta North 5 3 Budi 12 12 Total 151 163

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