#InternationalTeachersDay: The Impact of COVID-19 on Teachers

By Winnie Cirino

As the world commemorates the International Teachers Day, teachers in South Sudan narrate their ordeal during the coronavirus pandemic era.

This year’s theme is; “Recognize the tireless efforts of teachers who kept teaching even during hardships like the Covid-19 Pandemic.”

When the government opened schools earlier this year, Covid-19 precautionary and preventive protocols were imposed on schools.

But schools like Sadaka Secondary School, a government owned school, failed to abide by the guidelines and the precautionary measures from the health ministry and the World Health organization. Such schools do not have the necessary equipment to curb the virus. This has put many teachers at the risk of contracting the disease.

“We’re vulnerable to the COVID-19 because at any time we can be attacked by COVID-19 due to the number of students in the classes,” Levi Simba Lasu, the headmaster of the school tells The Insider.

“The government didn’t even provide us with any sanitary things, even vaccination for the teachers.”

The government promised to vaccinate all teachers prior to resumption of classes in 2021 but ran short of the AstraZeneca vaccines. However, more 59,520 doses of the vaccine were donated to South Sudan by France in late August, but Lasu says up till now his teachers have not been vaccinated.

“They (government) gave us a timetable that they are going to vaccinate all the teachers but they cancelled it that the vaccine is not available.” Lasu says as they wait to take their jabs.

In September, South Sudan received its first consignment of 152, 950 of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines from the COVAX facilities.

low salary and salary delays has always been the biggest challenge for teachers in South Sudan, something that has forced many teachers to quit the profession despite repeated promises by the government to keep giving teachers incentives every month during the pandemic.

That deal that was short lived. Teachers only received the Covid-19 incentives for a period of two months last year.

“Until now we’re still waiting and we are just carrying out our duties without even raising any complaint because we don’t know where to raise the complaint.” Lasu says.

Schools have lost many teachers and some students have dropped out of school as a result of the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the country in April 2019. Schools were closed for one year affecting the management of the schools and the school businesses in general. Teachers put down their tools and went home.

 “When the government lifted the Coronavirus lockdown, we opened the school, but still facing challenges, many of our students went home during the lockdown most did not return back to school. We were having many lecturers so many of them went to their home and never returned back to come and teach.” Makuei Ruot Kang, Director of Central Vocational Institute told The Insider.

Teaching is one of the most difficult careers in South Sudan. The meagre salaries teachers receive, sometimes delays for months.

At Juba Day Secondary School in Juba, teachers last received salaries in June this year, about three months ago. These peanut wages can hardly enable most teachers to provide basic needs for their families considering the current economic situation.

Nowadays most teachers prefer working part time so they can also do side hustles either by taking up teaching roles in other schools or investing their time in some other jobs to enable them make ends meet.

This would enable them to earn extra money to fend for their families.

“When schools were closed, it meant any income generating activities for a teacher stopped. So life for a teacher for the whole of 2020 up to 2021, most of the teachers have suffered, most of them had to go for other petty jobs just to sustain life.” Reveals George Kenyi, a teacher at Juba Day Secondary School.