JUBA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said Friday it would send the third batch of teachers and school managers to China for training under the second phase of the China-Aided Technical Cooperation Project in Education.

Kuyok Abol Kuyok, undersecretary of the Ministry of General Education and Instruction, said that the group of 82 members who will leave on Saturday for one-month training in Shanghai comprises education directors, school inspectors, and managers.

"We have about 82 headmasters, school inspectors, managers that are going to attend this specific training in Shanghai, it is part of the China-Aided Technical Cooperation Project in Education program that has been running for the last two years," Kuyok said while briefing the trainees in Juba, capital of South Sudan, ahead of their trip to China.

Kuyok revealed that the first batch of trainees under the project returned to the country about two months ago.

"This is part of the support China is providing for education in South Sudan, it is support from the government of China, some of whom are directors, and we expect them to come back and train others," he added.

In November 2023, 150 teachers and school managers went to China for training.

The second phase of the project involves drafting, printing, and provision of textbooks for some primary and secondary schools in South Sudan, organizing capacity-building programs for the teachers and the educational administrators, developing and providing an evaluation system for the usage of the textbooks, and dispatching Chinese teaching personnel to Juba to teach the Chinese language. - Xinhua

Macky Sall says consultations for organization of election of his successor will begin on Monday. 

Senegal’s president announced Thursday that his mandate as president will end on April 2 and consultations for the organization of the election of his successor will start next week.

Speaking in a media interview in the capital Dakar, Macky Sall said the date for holding presidential elections he had postponed remains open but he plans to leave his position as president after the end of his term.

“On April 2, 2024, my mission ends as the head of Senegal,” he said.

“As far as the date is concerned, we'll see from the outcome of consultations, which are expected to begin on Monday, Feb. 26 and probably end on Tuesday. If a consensus is not reached, everything will be referred to the Constitutional Council,” he said.

The election can be held before or after April 2, he added.

Sall announced the indefinite suspension of the Feb. 25 presidential election on Feb. 3, citing a dispute over the candidate list and alleged corruption of constitutional judges.

The National Assembly then passed a bill postponing the vote until Dec. 15 as security forces stormed the building and removed some opposition lawmakers.

But the Senegalese Constitutional Council declared the law postponing the country’s presidential vote to December “unconstitutional” and annulled his decree to delay the poll.

The election delay in the West African country triggered violent protests, during which three people were killed and dozens of others were arrested.

The protesters accused Sall of using “fallacious reasons to postpone the election” just hours before the campaign began. By James Tasamba, Anadolu Agency