In South Sudan, years of conflict, displacement and poverty have created significant challenges for education, particularly for children who have experienced trauma and other mental health problems. Many teachers lack the necessary training and skills to address these issues, which affect learners’ academic progress and well-being. To address this, WCHO in a consortium with FCA through funding from DG ECHO built the capacity of teachers and other education personnel’s on psychosocial support, Child Protection, GBV and risk mitigation in Malakal, Upper Nile state.
Participants included 32(M=23, F=09) teachers, 02 County Education Directors of Malakal City Council and Panyikang county and 01 official from State Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare.
The topics covered during the training under Psychosocial included stress and relaxation, circle of influence, compassion in classrooms, how to identify and support learners with Mental Health and Psychosocial concerns and challenging behaviors as teachers, how to provide Psychological First Aid and make referrals and exercises and activities for the learners to enhance their mental wellbeing. Under GBV, key areas of focus included the types, root causes, contributing factors, negative effects and preventive measures and the SGBV referral pathway.
Under child protection, the areas that were covered included; understanding of child protection, the key elements of Child Protection, why the need to protect children, the common child protection concerns, the protective environment, the procedures for supporting children with special needs e.g children with disabilities and the child protection referral pathway.
On risk mitigation, the areas included; how to identify and mitigate risks in the school environment, such as bullying, unsafe infrastructure, and risks related to conflict or natural disasters. The training was blended with group discussions and role plays.
