Save the Children education partners to roll out social-emotional learning in schools.

Participants during the training at Palm Africa Hotel in Juba. Photo: Estella John/Save the Children

Save the Children trained 25 participants from 12 education partner organisations on social-emotional learning to improve the quality of learning in South Sudan.

A 5-day workshop organised by Save the Children for the ECW’s funded Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) implementing partners ended on Friday, April 26th, 2024. The Social Emotional Learning Foundations (SELF) workshop aimed to empower partners to gain skills and confidence. At the end of the training, partners are mandated to train teachers to integrate, adapt, and roll out social-emotional learning into their teaching practices in schools across South Sudan.

Social emotional learning is a process through which children, youth, and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to: understand and manage emotions; set and achieve positive goals; feel and show empathy to others; establish and maintain positive relationships; and make responsible decisions.

Twelve (12) partner staff from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Nile Hope, Christian Mission for Development (CMD), World Vision International (WVI), Peace Corps Organization South Sudan, UNIDOR, SPEDP, Finn Church Aid (FCA), Help Education South Sudan (HESS), AVSI, Light for the World (LFTW), Windle Trust International (WTI) and Save the Children attended the workshop. Additionally, the training attracted government officials and representatives from the Ministry of General Education and Instruction.

The skills gained by partners contribute to children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development to better learn and cope in hardship.

“This training is important to help learners and teachers develop social skills to live with themselves and others. We hope that this step-by-step teacher guide on social emotional learning, after review by the national curriculum development centre, will be included to complement what is already in the curriculum of South Sudan,"  said Majuch Madul Abor, deputy director, department of science, mathematics, and programme at the Ministry of General Education and Instruction.

Save the Children Technical Specialist on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, Dorothy Namara, said the training is important because it will enable schools to meet the mental health needs of learners in the classroom.