The government of South Sudan recently switched from an Arabic-based curriculum to an English one after attaining independence from the North in July 2011.

The North had for years imposed the Arabic-based curriculum on the Christian South which is now keen to promote its own educational, cultural and religious system.

The Arabic curriculum largely benefited Arabic publishers, with Kenyan firms getting only a small share of the market such as early childhood education books. 
Publishers say the new curriculum is closer to the Kenyan one and that they are willing to make new investments to fully meet more changes expected in coming months.

“South Sudan has a lot of growth opportunities and Kenyan publishers are keen to capture that market by producing the relevant educational books,” said Mr David Muita, the managing director of Moran Publishers which is setting up a distribution network in the neighbouring country.

The South’s independence has, however, attracted more donors such as UK’s Department For International Development (DfID) which has emerged as one of the biggest financiers in the country’s education sector.

DfID is funding the purchase of 12.5 million textbooks in South Sudan by year-end. The UK agency has earmarked a total of £75 million (Sh9.7 billion) for purchase of educational resources, including books, in the next four years.

The new administration in South Sudan is determined to uplift the country’s education standards, a move that is set to further expand opportunities for Kenyan publishers.

According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), there is only one textbook for every four students in South Sudan’s primary schools. The government plans to improve this to one textbook per student in both primary and secondary schools by 2015.
“This will require an additional 5.6 million primary school textbooks and 576,000 secondary school books,” Unesco said in a new report on the country’s education system.