23/08/2026
RE: REQUEST FOR THE SOUTH SUDAN GOVERNMENT TO OBTAIN A STATUS UPDATE FROM JONGLEI STATE GOVERNMENT AND SOUTH SUDAN EMBASSY IN ETHIOPIA ON THE DEBRE TABOR UNIVERSITY MOU.
It was in June 2025 when jonglei state government led by his Excellency Dr. Riak G*i kok signed a MOU to establish a major scholarship program for jonglei state students.
The agreement's centerpiece was a fully funded annual scholarship for 100 students allocating 80 slots for undergraduate and 20 for postgraduate programs. The scholarship was meant to cover the tuition fees, accomodations, cafeteria services and other on-campus support like library usage and internet services, but excluded monthly stipend, visa fees, residential permit and transport, "to and from".
Following the agreement, the governor of jonglei state established a scholarship management committee, appointing ustaz Makuei Achol Thiong as its head. Working closely with other members, Makuei worked hard to identify and select the most qualified candidates for the program. Unfortunately, the 12 postgraduate students who applied and shortlisted didn't make it so they were replaced by undergraduate students inorder to maintain the agreed number (100). The committee also helped to organize transportation for the students, although they did not cover the travel costs themselves. Additionally, they made sure that the students would receive their visas upon arrival, just as they had promised.
Upon our arrival in Addis Ababa, we traveled to the Amhara region, where the university is located. We thought we were a group of 100 students, but when we settled into the campus, we found we were actually 126. We were not sure if the South Sudan educational attache in ethiopia named, Kun puok had added 26 extra students without informing the scholarship committee. Later, we confirmed that the committee indeed did not know about those 26 students, because when they checked by asking the members in WhatsApp group for students from Jonglei at Debre
