By Sr. Henriette Anne, FSSA
At the inaugural symposium of the Catholic University of South Sudan, St. John Yambio Campus, on 24th May 2025, themed as “Reimagining Higher and Practical Education: Shaping Minds, Driving Innovation, Transforming Society”, bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala emphasized that in fragile societies like South Sudan, especially Western Equatoria State education must extend beyond the classroom and schools must be sanctuaries of peace, workshops of innovation, and birthplaces of national renewal.
“In fragile societies such as our beloved South Sudan, especially here in Western Equatoria, universities must transcend the traditional boundaries of academia. They are not only schools of knowledge, they are sanctuaries of peace, workshops of innovation, and birthplaces of national renewal.”
In his keynote address, the local ordinary of Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio (CDTY) noted that “when communities are fractured by violence, despair, and disillusionment, a university must serve as a lighthouse, illuminating paths of hope, stability, and progress, and education is not a luxury but its lifeline”, he said.
Quoting Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid AL Maktoum’s assertion that “Education is the foundation of progress”, bishop Hiiboro reminded the participants during the symposium that the absence of a strong educational system is a threat not just to development but to national survival.
The prelate also pointed out that too many of “youth graduate with certificate but no compass, with knowledge but no wisdom, with skills but no soul” and warned that this “is not just unfortunate, it is dangerous”.
The prelate urged the scholars, students, civic leaders and community members who attended the symposium that they need to restore order in the minds which will lead to the ability to reason critically and imagine creatively, restore order in morality that is anchored in truth, justice, and love for the common good and finally to restore order in civic purpose which drives the inner call to serve and uplift, not to dominate and exploit failure to which they risk producing “brilliant minds but devoid of conscience, credentials but lacking competence and leaders but absent vision or virtue”.
He further added that if they work add to put order in their education system they will forge with vocation, discovering not only what one does, but who one is called to become, they will forge with right thinking of emerging insight with responsibility and end up with builders of peace and progress, and with citizens who construct rather than consume.
Bishop Hiiboro who is also the founder the Catholic University of South Sudan, Yambio Campus stressed that the campus was created not to add numbers in the graduation list but it was founded to shape lives, to awaken minds and form hearts.
Acknowledging that their land is wounded by war and shaken by fragile governance, he said that the campus is not just a project, it is a “womb of hope”, a cradle for birthing the South Sudan that their ancestors dreamed of and their children deserve
Addressing the administration, the prelate proposed that academic programs be closely tied to real-life skills, enabling students to thrive in fields such as agriculture, digital technology, renewable energy, entrepreneurship, and artisan trades.
He also called for the integration of peace education and civic formation, so that universities become spaces where dialogue replaces division and democratic values are not only taught but lived.
He also urged institutions to ground their teaching in community-based learning through internships, rural service, and innovation labs, stressing that students must learn by serving, and serve by learning.
He further emphasized on the importance of research that addresses practical societal issues such as public health, climate resilience, food security, and justice.
He insisted that all education must be under-girded by strong ethical and spiritual foundations. Citing Martin Luther King Jr, he said, “Intelligence plus character, is the goal of true education”.
Using the words of Pope Francis, “The mission of the University is to form hearts, not just minds”, he confirms that in “Western Equatoria State and across South Sudan, that mission is not optional, it is sacred, we are not victims of a broken past, we are midwives of a better tomorrow”.
In conclusion he called on the Catholic University of South Sudan, St. John Yambio Campus, to be a “lamp on a hill”, shining the way forward through the fusion of faith, reason, and moral order and with the words from the Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it”
