Event: SchoolsSouth Sudan

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.‘I Like My Job Too Much’: Unpaid Teachers Fight to Save a Nation’s SchoolsSouth Sudan is the world’s newest nation and its education system is on the verge of collapse, putting an entire generation at risk.Students taking an exam at Gumbo Basic School in Juba, South Sudan, last month.‘I Like My Job Too Much’: Unpaid Teachers Fight to Save a Nation’s SchoolsSouth Sudan is the world’s newest nation and its education system is on the verge of collapse, putting an entire generation at risk.Students taking an exam at Gumbo Basic School in Juba, South Sudan, last month.Credit...June 25, 2026At first glance, the work life of Paul Santino, the headmaster of a school here in South Sudan, resembles that of many educators.He sits alone at a dark wooden desk in a room lined with books. Students and staff knock politely before entering. Every so often he makes his rounds, poking his head into classrooms, overseeing goings on around the schoolyard, chiding students for their uniform or behavior.But unlike most educators, Mr. Santino has not received a salary in more than a year, nor has any of the staff at the Gumbo Basic School in Juba, the capital, nor any other teachers in the country.Education in South Sudan is in crisis.The country, founded in 2011 after an independence war that lasted decades, is one of the most fragile in Africa. Its public coffers are nearly empty. Around half of the population is 18 or under, but for years education has rated little more than a rounding error in the government’s budget, forcing the country’s schools to the brink.ImageJuba, the capital. Teachers there, as well as in the rest…