National Anthem of South Sudan:
South Sudan has experienced few periods of genuine peace since Sudan gained its independence in 1956. Peace has usually come as an interlude for warring sides to regroup and prepare for the next round of conflict. Power has primarily rested in Khartoum. Southern Sudan has been systematically excluded from the majority of government services. As a result, in even the most developed areas of the South, one in six children go to primary school, there is no formal electrical power, very limited advanced schooling, poor region-wide communications services, and poor road access to the outside world.
Now, after almost twenty-five years of continual conflict and five years of relative peace Southern Sudan has a window of opportunity to develop itself within an environment of peace. Southern Sudan, represented by the SPLM (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement), signed a peace deal in Naivasha in 2005, Kenya with the Sudanese government leading to current relative peace in the country. The Agreement did establish a six-year period after which a referendum in the South allows Southern Sudanese to vote on their future status – to remain part of the united Sudan, to decide for independence of south Sudan or other options. The six-year period has given Southern Sudanese an opportunity to invest heavily in local development, as the “peace dividend” has provided the South with significant international funding for the development of public services and infrastructure.
The construction and development effort requires capable cadres of trained Sudanese to lead local efforts, and to manage their future environment. Training at every level will be critical to ensuring local efforts are staffed by people who will remain in place to build on achievements and learning. In order for Sudanese to act as the catalysts for their own development, they will require access to up-to-date educational materials, accurate information, technical and vocational skills, and long-term training and capacity building processes that build on what they already know.
Prior to independence from the British, training and formal education in South Sudan was almost entirely supported by churches and Christian missions. This tradition persists, and the church is seen by most Southern Sudanese as the single most trusted institution in local communities. Frequently, church leaders are also trusted community leaders. Church meetings are attended by people who are willing to experience deprivations in order to be a part of activities they consider indispensable to their own spiritual and social well-being. Until the early 1980s, Christian churches were overwhelmingly either Anglican or Catholic. However, since then, there has also been significant growth of a number of new and independent churches and denominations. Church growth patterns mirror wh
at is happening in much of the rest of Africa. Evangelical church growth reflected these trends. Part of this church growth resulted into the birth of Emmanuel Christian College; shortly known as ECC. ECC is an indigenous Christian College, with broad membership from evangelical and historic churches and denominations in Sudan.
Emmanuel Christian College (ECC) is based in Central Equatoria southern Sudan, now wishes to contribute significantly to the educational development of Sudan Church Schools by supporting the establishment of self-sustaining Christian Teachers Education to be managed by honest, capable, local citizens who are trusted to carry on the operation of the Christian Teacher’s Training at ECC.