The Vice President of South Sudan James Wani Igga today has launched the first ever national curriculum for all basic education levels, saying the new curriculum will help provide provide equitable access to learning and promote gender equality.

Speaking on Tuesday at Juba Grand Hotel, Igga said the new curriculum will contribute to the personal development of young people so that they participate in the moral, social, political and economic development of South Sudan.

The launch event which was organized by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology with support from the Global Partnership for Education and UNICEF.

“While the traditional subjects continue to be important and relevant, young people need to develop a set of competences which they can apply in all those subjects throughout their lives so that they also develop into ably competent leaders,” Igga said on the occasion.

The new curriculum covers the whole of basic education including early childhood development, primary education, secondary education and the accelerated learning programme and community girls' schools. The curriculum will be available in schools by January 2016.

The aim is to phase in the new curriculum for students from primary one to secondary four gradually.

For his part, Minister of Education, Science and Technology John Gai Yoh said that the completion of the curriculum marked an important milestone in the history of South Sudan.

“Today, we are doing two things in one. We are announcing to the people of South Sudan that the review of the curriculum is completed today, but also we are announcing to them that the beginning of the implementation of the curriculum also begins today because afternoon and tomorrow we’ll discuss with the publishers and educationalists how we are going to move forward,” Gai said.