More than 700 primary and secondary schools in Warrap State have received education grants channel at supporting girls.

Elia Charles Esau Badubara, Team Leader at Girls Education South Sudan in Warrap State confirmed that 751 schools are benefiting from the initiative.

As schools reopen in phases and more girls get back to learning, Elia says more than 50,000 girls within the State are eligible for the Cash Transfers Program.

“The total number of girls who were value dated in Warrap state where 58,699, these are the number of girls who are eligible to be supported,” he said.

“We are paying girls from primary five up to senior four, girls who are in primary five, six, seven senior one, two and three are paid five thousand five hundred South Sudanese Pounds each girl, and candidate classes like primary eight and Senior four are paid 8,250 SSP, that is the money given to girls in the country,” Esau added.

The Cash Transfer program is going to benefit school girls in six counties in Tonj North (4,123), Gogrial East (10,130), Gogrial West (20,190), Twic (18,306) Tonj East (1,961), and Tong South (4,330).

Worldwide, nine in ten girls complete their primary education but only three in four complete their lower secondary education mostly in low-income countries such as South Sudan.

Elia says the Cash Transfer Program is driven by the need to reduce the scale of school dropout among girls, which is usually caused by a lack of even very basic resources.

“So it was thought that it is the appropriate way to support those girls by giving them money that helps them buy the essentials that can keep them at school”.

The coronavirus has affected education systems globally. Just like other countries South Sudan also temporarily shut down schools to adhere to the safety measures of COVID-19. However, this has led to many girls staying home and others being forcefully married off.

The Team Leader explained that the money given to the girls was at an appropriate time because they are staying home, making potential victims to male chauvinists.

“So the money is given to the girls at the right time because when they are home they are idle, they are not doing anything and yet they would have a lot of demand.

“So, this money given to them will help them stay at home until when schools are fully reopened,” he said.

Since their introduction in the 1990s in Latin America to their subsequent adaptation in many other countries around the world, the cash transfer programs have also been used as a strategy for poverty reduction and improving human welfare.

These policies and programs have directed that cash assistance be made available to families, either conditionally or unconditionally, or even directly, as child support grants or scholarships, to underwrite costs, specifically for girls’ enrollment and continuation in schools.