Yei River County in Central Equatoria State has been hit by a shortage of primary school teachers following the dismissal of hundreds of teachers under the government programme of payroll downsizing.
Yei River County Education officer, Charles Lumori Justine, told Spirit FM that at least half of over 800 teachers working in the primary schools were affected by the reduction of paid workers.Mr. Lumori said there was urgent need for teachers of English but the existing gap cannot be filled due to the downsizing policy that affected the entire state.
Yei town payam that has 34 government and private primary schools has been left with less than 50 teachers out of 189.
The Education Administrator in the Payam, James Laruba Bala, said the government needs to appoint more teachers who can fill the gap if effective teaching and learning is to be achieved in order to raise education standards.
Mr. Laruba added that the downsizing programme that was mainly targeting ordinary level leavers and Sudan School Certificate holders should allow teachers with better grades to continue with teaching.
He disclosed plans by the Payam Education office to post a number of qualified teachers from government schools to areas mostly affected by the downsizing to enable schools resume normal lessons.
The state ministry is also expected to send in more teachers starting next term.