Viewing the reconstruction of primary schooling in Southern Sudan through education data, 2006–2009

After one of the longest wars in the history of Africa, Southern Sudan accomplished one of the world’s quickest education reconstruction programmes. Once the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in 2005, the international donor community and the government and people of Southern Sudan united under a common goal: to increase access to education for both children and adults. Southern Sudan’s experience leads to three lessons. First, countries entering a post-conflict situation should anticipate and plan for the possibility of a large and rapid influx of new students immediately after hostilities end. Second, after a prolonged conflict, an alternative education system is critical to allow children, and the young adults who were previously deprived of education, the opportunity to acquire the skills they need to earn a living. Finally, donors must respond rapidly, demonstrate considerable flexibility, forgo extensive planning and documentation before acting, and be willing to make a multi-year commitment.     

Late Entrants Leave School Earlier: Evidence from Mozambique

Late school entry prevails in many developing countries, and a brief international comparison suggests it has a general negative impact on school retention rates. Yet this widespread phenomenon has received little attention. This essay investigates late school entry in one of the larger countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Mozambique, for which data were available that allowed a detailed investigation. It demonstrates that in Mozambique pupils who enter school late have substantially higher drop-out rates than young entrants and may have, in addition, higher repetition rates. The essay also shows that many pupils in first grade are probably older than reported by the schools. The data necessary for the calculations include school attendance statistics from the Ministry of Education and from the 1997 Population Census.