S. Sudan Focuses on Girls on Day of African Child

Children march at the Nyakuron Cultural Center in Juba to mark the Day of the African Child.

South Sudanese school children hold a poster during a march in Juba to mark the Day of the African Child.

Ending child marriage is the focus of the Day of the African Child in South Sudan, where more than half of girls aged 15-19, like Akuot B., shown here, are married, often against their will.

The South Sudan government is poised to roll out a nationwide program to urge parents to keep their daughters in school.

Some children in South Sudan have to give up school because their parents expect them to work in cattle camps like this one.

A program in Western Equatoria state in South Sudan has succeeded in cutting the school dropout rate among girls by nearly half in one year.