The National Minister of Higher Education, Madut Biar Yel, has promised to implement stricter measures to address corruption and unfair practices in South Sudan’s scholarship program.
The announcement follows a meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, Jemma Nunu Kumba, and the Equatoria Students’ Union, where students voiced grievances about the unequal distribution of scholarships.
During the meeting, Minister Biar committed to making the scholarship process more transparent.
“We are going to consider the issues of 35 percent or the affirmative action in the coming scholarship that is going to be offered to South Sudanese students,” he stated.
He also detailed a new system in which a student from each state will apply directly to the Ministry of Higher Education.
Biar pointed to a recent example of the challenges the ministry faces where for 30 scholarships offered by India to private applicants, 457 students applied.
He explained that universities often return applicant lists to the ministry late, giving them only two days to select 30 students. The new system aims to streamline this process.
Gaaniko Godfrey Nara, president of the Global Equatoria Students’ Union, said the organization is confident that the authorities will address their concerns.
“We raised the concern about this, and the minister promised that the upcoming scholarship will be going to do it in two different states and three administrative areas. And we are looking into it to see if everything that we discussed is going to be put into implementation,” Gaaniko said.
