South Sudan’s population of around 6 million participates mostly in rural, subsistence economies. The devastating impact of the civil wars is evident in the lack of infrastructure and economic development, as well as in the significant loss of population through war casualties and displacement. More than 2 million people have died, and more than 4 million have been displaced as a result of the civil war.

After an uprising by the northern Sudanese in 1899, the British, who now ruled Egypt as a colonial power, suppressed the uprising and assumed joint leadership, with the Egyptians, of Sudan. Under this joint leadership agreement, in acknowledgement of the cultural, climatic, and geographical differences in the southern and northern territories of Sudan, the British designated the territory south of the twenty-second parallel as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. 

From this time until independence in 1956, the British sought to modernize northern Sudan by modeling its economic and governmental institutions after those of Europe. However, southern Sudan's remote and undeveloped provinces received little official attention from the British. The British essentially closed the area to northerners and left the southern regions of Sudan to develop along indigenous lines. Consequently, the south remained isolated and undeveloped. The few remaining Arab merchants and government bureaucrats were asked to leave. The British discouraged the practice of Islam, Arab culture, and the wearing of Arab dress. They also banned the slave trade that prevailed in southern Sudan. The British then encouraged an influx of Christian missionaries. The missionaries proceeded to establish schools and medical clinics, providing the area with limited social services. The British envisioned the region as eventually being integrated into the British colonies in East Africa.

During the 1940s, however, British colonial officers began questioning the policy of separation of the northern and southern regions of Sudan. By 1946, in preparation for the formation of the independent nation of Sudan, the northern and southern regions became unified, with the northern city of Khartoum becoming the center of government, and Arabic the official language. British colonial officials in south Sudan were replaced by Arabic-speaking officials from northern Sudan, leaving no one to protect the civil and economic rights of the south Sudanese. Many objected to the imposition of northern “outside” rule on the once protected region.

Sudan became an independent nation in 1956. However, those governing from the north failed to address the concerns of those living in the south. Southerners were essentially given no voice in planning the structure of the new nation of Sudan.

Tiitchok Mareng is located in the county of Aweil East, in the state of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, in South Sudan. Currently in Tiitchok Mareng, like other villages in Aweil East, there are no secondary schools. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), South Sudan has some of the world’s worst education indicators.

26% of villages have functioning primary schools.

25% of those attending are women and girls. 

The ratio of students to teachers averages 100:1

There is one english and math textbook per every four students.

South Sudan is one of the world’s lowest ranked nations with respect to net enrollment in primary education. Young girls in South Sudan are three times more likely to die in childbirth than to reach grade 8. Trained teachers are in short supply, textbooks are scarce, and most schooling is conducted under tents or in the open air.