Blue Nile refugees at Doro refugee camp in Maban County in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state say that early marriage is one of the major challenges facing girl child education in the area.

Osman Ibrahim Isahaq, a headmaster of El Shahid Jafar Juma Secondary School at Doro camp, told Radio Tamazuj on Monday that early marriage and lack of well-trained teachers as well as textbooks have been significantly hindering the progress of the educational process in the camp.

El Shahid Jafar Juma Secondary School is the only secondary school at Doro camp, according to Isahaq.

He pointed out that the school also received a considerable number of students from Upper Nile who have fled their areas of origin due to the ongoing conflict in the state.

The educator urged the families and native administration to determine the best suited marriageable age for girls so that they can pursue their education uninterrupted.

“Early marriage of girls at the age of primary school is the biggest challenge facing us here. For instance, the number of girls in the school is 30 girls only compared to 167 boys,” he explained.

Osman appealed to parents and guardians not to marry off their daughters at early ages, but rather send them to school for the betterment of the community.

File photo: A girl collecting water at Yusuf Batil Camp in Maban County (Medair/Wendy van Amerongen)