On July 11, the first truck carrying China-aided South Sudan textbooks arrived in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.The picture is provided by respondents.

Reporter of Xiaoxiang Morning Herald: Xu Hairui

Changsha -- 745,000 textbooks have traveled tens of thousands of kilometers from Changsha to Juba to help with the initial construction of education in South Sudan.

On July 14, China’s first comprehensive education aid project -- China-aided Technical Cooperation Project of Education in South Sudan, initiated by the Ministry of Commerce, undertaken by China South Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd., and carried out by Teewon Digital Media Technology Co., Ltd., made another stage of progress. The first batch of 745,000 textbooks and the equipment of the ICT teacher training center arrived in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

According to the cooperation plan, the project will print 1,299,000 textbooks for South Sudan. The textbooks are expected to be used by 150,000 teachers and students, accounting for about 10% of the country’s teachers and students. The first batch of 745,000 textbooks in 37 categories will be used by 100,000 students and teachers in South Sudan. The second batch of 554,000 textbooks in 43 categories will be printed by the end of the year.

Current situation: five pupils share one textbook.

Since the founding of the Republic of South Sudan, education in this country has started from scratch. The shortage of textbooks and related teaching resources is the most urgent education problem in South Sudan. Some of the textbooks used by primary and secondary schools in South Sudan come from other countries, and some are still the old textbooks from Sudan.

No unified planning and design, and various sources of teaching materials result in many problems about the textbook such as improper cohesion and no system, which is not conducive to the sustainable development of education. There is still rough painting and unreasonable content in some textbooks.

Except for the problem of unqualified and unsystematic textbooks, the supply of textbooks in South Sudan is far from enough to meet the demand. According to the official data of South Sudan, the ratio of primary school students to textbooks is about 5:1, that is, 5 students share one textbook. The ratio of middle school students to textbooks is about 7:1.

Aid: five modules of support will be provided.

On December 23, 2016, the implementation agreement of China’s first comprehensive education aid project, initiated by the Ministry of Commerce and undertaken by China South Publishing & Media Group, was signed in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Gong Shuguang, the chairman of China South Media, said that the project was expected to comprehensively improve the education environment in South Sudan, help it build a comprehensive development system of modern education, and lay a solid foundation for education in this young country. “This new mode of cultural education going out can make our culture export have lasting power, and even affect generations of local students and teachers, so as to form the possibility for Chinese culture to take root and sprout in this country for a long time.” Gong Shuguang said.

In the opinion of Ding Shuangping, the director and general manager of China South Media, “In terms of culture export, there is a fundamental problem that has never been solved, that is, to develop and manufacture products based on the needs of foreign readers, instead of simply assuming what foreign readers need.” Ding Shuangping said, “China-aided South Sudan education project combines the national conditions and the current situation of education, and focuses on solving this problem from five modules, namely top-level education planning, textbook development, teacher training, the construction of ICT teacher training center and textbook printing.”

“South Sudan is a very young country that has just gone through wars. The conditions are extremely backward and the country needs education urgently.” said Yang Mu, the general manager of Teewon Digital Media. “The education project in South Sudan is driven by our sense of responsibility to the international community. The project has played a pioneering role in establishing China’s good international image and expanding the influence of Chinese culture in the world.”