Gender Equality in Education and Human Rights Awareness in Juba City, South Sudan

The main purpose of this study was to examine the role of gender equality in education on human rights awareness in Juba City, South Sudan. Explicitly, the study sought to establish how learning process equality influenced human rights awareness; what was the role of equality in education access on human rights awareness and lastly to examine the influence of equality of education outcome on human rights awareness in Juba. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis. The study targeted pupils in primary schools within Juba, education managers, head teachers and representatives from local NGOs which supported education in that locality. Questionnaire and interview guide tools were used for data collection. Simple random and purposive sampling was used to select a sample of pupils and key informants respectively. Slovin’s (1960) formula was applied to determine the number of respondents in the study. Findings showed that general completion rate of primary school was low but boys were more likely to complete school than girls as reported by respondents, still, the reason for this was early marriage. It was observed that pupils were likely to complete primary school at a late age of 14-years and a significant number at over 17, the researcher believed this to be one of the reasons for early marriages in girls. Pupils reported to believe that education would help them get good jobs and pursue dream careers. This implied that pupils had hopes for a bright future through education. It was concluded that; with regards to influence of learning process equality on human rights awareness, low enrollment rate, poverty and cultural beliefs were contributing to inequality in education through ‘locking out’ girls. The study made the following recommendations; security in the area should be improved, free education policies be implemented fully, improve infrastructure and facilities, provide bursaries to schools, teacher be sufficiently trained, schools be supported to start sustainable projects to feed pupils, parents be encouraged to educate girls and have a psycho-social support department in school. Key terms: Gender equality, education, human rights awareness