Chinese embassy donates textbooks, scholastic materials to Chinese built school

By Denis Ejulu

The Chinese embassy in South Sudan on Thursday donated hundreds of textbooks and scholastic
materials to aid learning at the China Friendship Secondary School in the capital, Juba.
The donations that also included backpacks were made during an event organized by the school to
celebrate “Chinese Day”, which was attended by the 13 th batch of the Chinese medical team, members
of the Chinese peacekeeping force under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and
officials from the Central Equatoria State government.

Cirisio Zakaria Lado, minister of general education and instruction in Central Equatoria State said that
the school built by the Chinese government in 2011 symbolizes the strong contribution of the latter
towards the development of education in the youngest nation.
“This is the 15 th year of the strong friendship between South Sudan and the People’s Republic of China.
This friendship has resulted into many benefits to the people of South Sudan, we have graduated many
learners with the help from China and this proves the strong relationship between our two countries,”
Lado said at the ceremony held in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
Nelson Wani Dere, head master of the Chinese Friendship Secondary School said that the school which
currently accommodates 990 learners has provided opportunity for several children from humble
families to access quality education over the past years since it’s inception.
“We have graduated many students, of which some of them have become ministers, director generals
and university graduates. If it was not for the Chinese government we would see some of these students
out of school or resorting to crime,” he said.
Ma Qiang, Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan stressed that China has always given high strategic
priority to development of education.
He emphasized that China’s strong priority towards education has not only made it to become the
world’s second-largest economy, but also the largest manufacturer and the largest trader in goods,
including being a major trading partner of more than 150 countries and regions.
“For many years, China has been actively supporting the development of education in South Sudan. We
have built schools and provided them with supplies. We have compiled and distributed over 3 million
primary and secondary school textbooks for South Sudanese students,” Ma said.
In addition, he said that China has also assisted over 400 South Sudanese teachers by facilitating their
training opportunities in China.