Education officials in South Sudan’s Unity State have suspended 24 head teachers at schools in a Bentiu camp for internally displaced persons after classes were canceled for a week during the trial of the country’s suspended first vice president.
The suspensions, confirmed Friday by the state’s director general for education, Stephen Mayiel Gatkoi Chuol, follow a series of events that began Monday with the opening of a special court in Juba for opposition leader Riek Machar.
The 73-year-old head of the SPLM-IO party is facing charges related to a March attack on an army base in Nasir County, which officials say killed more than 250 soldiers.
In response to the trial, a camp leadership group known as the Community High Committee ordered all schools in the Bentiu IDP camp to close for seven days. After the closure, thousands of camp residents — including students and teachers — staged a peaceful demonstration Thursday demanding the release of Machar and seven co-accused.
Chuol said the head teachers were suspended for complying with the closure order, which he said interfered with children’s education and drew students into a political dispute.
“We have seen this as interfering with the learning of our children in the state,” Chuol said in an interview with Radio Tamazuj. “I was trying to separate the politics and administration — the community service. That’s why I suspended the head teachers.”
He expressed particular concern that students were seen protesting in their school uniforms, which he said gave the impression that the schools were endorsing a political position.
“The protest is for individual interest,” Chuol said. “But we don’t want our children to be seen in school uniform in the protest.”
According to Chuol, the suspended head teachers represent primary schools, secondary schools and Alternative Education Program schools — all of which, he emphasized, are under the authority of the state government. He said he attempted to engage in dialogue with the head teachers before the demonstration, but the effort was unsuccessful.
Chuol said the head teachers have since met with the ministry, and a final meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday. He expressed hope that an agreement will be reached and schools will reopen soon.
“When the schools reopen, the head teachers will be reinstated to their positions,” he said.
Chuol pushed back against suggestions that schools in the Bentiu IDP camp operate independently of the state government, arguing that education should transcend politics.
“Children are not for SPLM-IO, nor are they members of SPLM,” he said. “The children are the children of the community. They cannot be dragged into party issues.”
One of the suspended head teachers, John Gatluok Koang of Konkel Secondary School, confirmed he had received a suspension letter.
“Yes, I am among the suspended list issued by the director general in the Ministry of General Education,” Koang said. “I accepted the suspension letter. I will not go to the office for work because I have been suspended from duties.”