By Dedi Esbon Samuel

The economic crisis in South Sudan is intensifying, exacerbating the already challenging lives of its people and casting a particularly long shadow over the aspirations of young girls.

For many, the rising costs associated with education, tuition, uniforms, notebooks, and handouts, have become insurmountable barriers. 

At home, the situation is equally dire. The scarcity of basic necessities like sanitary pads forces many girls to make distressing choices that no child should have to consider.

Girls’ daily Struggles and testimonials on the economic impacts. 

Diana James, a 22-year-old student at Juba Commercial, shared her experiences regarding the impact of the current economic challenges on her life.

“Challenges that I face are: sometimes transporting money, buying notebooks, and also sometimes buying body lotions and perfumes for taking care of myself,” Diana said. 

Diana who lives with her parents in Munuki said despite receiving financial support from her mother, she has also started a small business to supplement what she receives, to afford her basic needs.

“Actually, the challenges that we’re facing in South Sudan are great. If you’re a lady, you’ll be forced to do some small business to support yourself. And if you have nothing you’re doing, you need to get support from parents. If you don’t have any support from parents, then you’ll face more challenges,” Diana said. 

Stella Jacob, a 29-year-old diploma student in rural development at the University of Juba, shares similar sentiments, highlighting financial challenges as a significant obstacle for female students.

“There are a lot of economic challenges we as girls are going through. These include personal needs, as a girl I need money to buy monthly requirements especially sanitary pads,” Stella said.

She emphasized the importance of providing financial assistance to young girls, especially those with an interest in pursuing their education. Stella urged the government and organizations like UNICEF that operate in South Sudan to develop programs specifically aimed at supporting girl child education.

On the side of girls, there are a lot of needs. One may need body lotions, perfume and pads,” she said. “My message goes to the government, companies, and organizations in the Country who are able to support young girls. I will appreciate it,” Stella added.

Dina Doru, a first-year medical student at the University of Juba, said that she is sometimes embarrassed to talk about her challenges. She finds it difficult to get help because many people are facing economic hardships.

Like many other girls, Dina struggles with financial issues, which she says affect her studies.

“We have a lot of challenges, but you find it very hard to express them to people because maybe people will not help you with solutions. However, let me start with financial challenges. You know, in our country, you find it hard for parents to support their female children,” Doru said. 

She emphasized that it’s especially hard for girls to meet their daily needs without parental support, which makes life even more challenging.

“Based on needs of girls, it’s really hard to get it. One can try all means, cracking your head and really realize that it’s not easy” she said “But at some point, the far you can get sometimes is 10%.” 

Doru lives in Juba with her single mother, who single-handedly struggles to pay for her studies.

Cecilia Kiden, a senior female teacher at City Dove Primary School, acknowledged that economic pressures have led to an increase in early marriages, as parents struggle to afford school fees for their daughters.

“The economic impacts have really affected the girls in the way that parents cannot afford to pay the school fees of their children, so they will definitely have to remain at home. In our Country where there are a lot of wars, children go to school when they’re already mature. And during the crisis, they’ll simply drop out,” Kiden said. 

According to Kiden, at City Dove currently, the number of girls has slightly dropped compared to previous years. 

“The number of girls in my school, is just moderate. Though I can say it’s not like the number of previous years. It has dropped. You know during the previous years you could find a 17-year-old girl still in primary. But these days with the economic crisis, it’s hard to find big girls in primary,” she said.   

Health Implications Facing Girls as A Result of the Economic Crisis. 

Momo Stephen, a medical personnel and an HIV/AIDS counselor at Juba Teaching Hospital (JTH), noted that due to economic challenges many girls are being forced into difficult situations. Some are choosing relationships with older men for financial reasons, and end up contracting sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS.

“I have experienced some live challenges that are faced by girls. We have cases that we’re attending to, cases of rape, cases of girls who have been misused and had to come for counseling.” 

According to Stephen, most of these girls are between 14 and 16 years old. He disclosed that many of them seek out wealthy men to meet their financial needs.

“The crisis has pushed them (girls) to other risks, especially trading their bodies in the name of exchanging sex for money and forgetting the risks that they might encounter, especially sexually transmitted diseases like HIV and even hepatitis,” he said.

Momo added, “When these ladies come and we ask them, at least they tell us these challenges. Because everything these days needs money.”

The government’s declaration of free education for primary and secondary schools. 

In February 2023, President Salva Kiir directed the Ministry of General Education and Instruction, along with other relevant institutions, to implement a free primary and secondary education policy across the country. Despite this directive, many parents continue to choose private schools, where they incur significant fees, because they perceive the quality of education in public schools to be inadequate.

With schools across the country having reopened on February 3, 2025, many families are finding it difficult to afford the necessary school fees, leading parents to reconsider their approach to this challenge.

Esther Akomo Achira, Director for Gender, Equity and Inclusive Education at the National Ministry of General Education and Instruction, stated that the free education initiative declared by President Salva Kiir is no longer effective due to the current economic crisis.

“The free education is not very much effective. The reason why free education was announced was because of the capitation grant that was given particularly to the public schools. This was to relieve the schools from asking school fees” Achira said. 

Achira however said due to the ongoing crisis of unpaid teacher salaries, schools are now charging fees to students to cover the costs of essential school materials.

She also disclosed that in order to support girls in schools, the Ministry of General Education has a program to support girls in schools by distributing reusable sanitary pads.

“We have the reusable sanitary pads and they’re put in dignity kit. We call it dignity kit because it does not only have the sanitary, but also the towels and other components like the sandals, jelly and rappers” she said. 

Achira said the distribution of sanitary pads occurs annually, aimed at supporting individuals who cannot afford to purchase them on their own.

“This story is reported with a grant from Journalists for Human Rights under the ‘Tackling Mis/Disinformation Project,’ funded by the Peace and Stabilization Program of the Government of Canada”