Vision Academy is at a strategic stage to turn things around in a State that has not had secondary school for five years from the time of crisis in 2013 up to 2018 when Vision Academy stepped in. Vision Academy established itself as a leader in making education accessible to the state population and underprivileged children in the state. As an institution on the mission of illiteracy eradication in Upper Nile State and beyond, its developmental approaches continue to directly impact students through the provision of quality education and expansion efforts to make a broader impact statewide.
There is a plan in place to see Vision Academy grow significantly each year to reach the location where it is not present. The management of Vision Academy has started the mission of establishing 100 school targets countrywide by 2060 with the establishment of the main branch in Malakal town. Next on the line of the expansion plan was to establish a branch in Juba before the expansion proceeded to other areas; That plan was implemented in 2022 and now Vision Academy is present in Juba. While the aim is to put our footprint in every county or Payam of South Sudan, the expansion will first take place primarily in the counties of Upper Nile State, namely: Renk, Ulang, Miawut, Panyikang, Malut, Fashoda, Akoka, and Baliet, ...etc, and then continue spontaneously to other states. Focusing on a selected area will enable Vision Academy to make a positive impact in the location where access to education is completely zero.
While Vision Academy sponsored one hundred (100) underprivileged students only every year since its establishment in 20218, the school has a six-year expansion plan to benefit up to 250 underprivileged children every year through 2030 across the Upper Nile State starting from 2025 when the new infrastructures are in place. To successfully achieve the plan of spontaneous enrollment increase from a current number of over 700 students to over 1,000 students by 2025, Vision Academy must enroll 65 students per class from primary one to senior four. With the new infrastructure in place, the school will sponsor underprivileged children from primary (P1-P7) classes that are not part of the current program.
As the School has been considered two thousand five hundred meters square (2500 msqr) for construction of its permanent buildings, the management of the school is planning to:
To have a firm beginning, Vision Academy will require an investment of one million ($1,000,000) over the next six years. To this end, two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) is required by the 2025 financial year. This will cover the costs of building three new school structures and their furnishing, the scholarship for vulnerable and outstanding students, teachers’ incentives, and capacity building.
To sustain its growth and reach the 100 schools target mission, Vision Academy in the short-term period will fund up to 25% of its operation through tuition payment from students, sale of services such as tailoring of schools’ uniforms, books, and school stationeries, graphic design, printing press, and photocopiers and assistance in kind from people of goodwill through philanthropy. The long-term sustainability and growth will be achieved through investment which is expected to generate 75% of the funds required for the school development.
Finally, with the planned investment plus the income the school would generate from tuition fees and philanthropists, Vision Academy can gradually build up to a hundred schools (100) that provide a high-quality education to over 80,000 students yearly country-wide. This number of students (80,000) is achievable yearly with twelve classrooms of 65 students per class from pre-primary, primary to secondary school in all one hundred (100) schools country-wide.
With this initial investment plus the income the school would generate, Vision Academy can gradually build up to a hundred schools (100) that provide a high-quality education to 78,000 students yearly country-wide. This number of students (78000) is achievable yearly with twelve classrooms of 65 students per class from pre-primary to secondary school level in one hundred (100) schools country-wide.
Vision Academy officially launched a forty-year (2020 -2060) illiteracy eradication campaign mission on 06/02/2020 at the beginning of the academic year. Vision Academy can play a role in reducing the illiteracy rate from 73% by a number between 6 to 8 percent if this plan is not interrupted by the war again. Indeed, the success of this plan can make a difference in the lives of 5 million children throughout South Sudan and ultimately improve the living standard by breaking the cycle of poverty which in turn helps move the beneficiaries of this project above the poverty line. Besides the eradication of illiteracy and the eradication of poverty, another dividend of the educated population is that they respect the rule of law which inturns discourages corruption and unnecessary wars. With this success realized, South Sudan can leapfrog to prosperity in the shortest time possible.
In summary, the existence of Vision Academy is paramount because of the unmatched service it provides. Vision Academy has established itself as a premier choice in education provision in the state: The school is always on top with strong academic results. This extraordinary achievement motivates parents and the state authorities to persuade the school management to extend the services to the Malakal suburb and beyond. Besides those achievements, Vision Academy has been dominating and always shines over other schools. Since its founding, the school has amassed more than ten trophies during different competitions: Sports, Debate, Drama, and essay writing. For instance, Vision Academy was the winner of the essay writing competition given by the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) in the Greater Upper Nile region in 2018.