At least 29 students secured Chinese Government scholarships to pursue studies in Chinese various universities.
The Minister of General Education, Deng Deng Hoc and other ministry officials yesterday joined the Chinese Ambassador to Juba, Hua Ning and his counterpart to Beijing, Andruga Duku for the reception at the Chinese embassy.
The students are expected to start arriving in China late next week.
Peter Akech, a representative of the students said he was excited for the scholarship opportunity because it will enable him pursue his dreams.
“It has been my dream to study in China and with this scholarship opportunity my dream has come true,” the excited Akech said.
“We thank the Chinese government for the opportunity. We shall not misuse this opportunity. We are going to understand Chinese culture, experience, education, and bring back home what we will learn to make it a great country like China.”
Education Minister Deng expressed gratitude of the government of South Sudan for the help it received from the Chinese government not only in education, but also in the oil and health sectors.
He advised the students to take advantage of China’s advanced universities to learn and return ‘victorious’ to South Sudan.
“South Sudan needs educated people to achieve its vision of nation building. We count on you because you are the youth and backbone of this country. If you thrive, we will all thrive but if you fail, we may all fail but failure is not an option,” Deng advised the students.
He encouraged the students to learn from the Chinese culture of peace and discipline which he said are needed for South Sudan.
The South Sudan ambassador to China Andruga Duku advised the students to be united as people from the same country but not as people from different tribes, which he said has been the problem in South Sudan.
“Your tribe is South Sudan, you are all South Sudanese and you should leave this belief of here in Juba,” Andruga added.
He also appealed to the Chinese embassy to start a center to teach Chinese language, saying it will aid south Sudanese students in China.
Hua Ning, the Chinese ambassador in Juba said since the art of diplomatic relations, Chinese scholarships for South Sudanese have been rising.
He said another nearly 100 students will receive scholarships to study in China.
“I am proud to announce that china has become one of the most popular destination countries South Sudanese students seeking to study abroad. I am also very happy to see that many south students have returned from china to South Sudan, and they have made achievements in their careers, and are becoming backbone of different sectors in South Sudan,” said Ambassador Ning.
Barnaba Marial Benjamin, the President of South Sudan-China Friendship Association advised the students to learn and return to invest in the vast land for agriculture, cattle and other sectors.
via Juba Monitor
