NAIROBI, June 22 (Xinhua) -- The UN World Food Program (WFP) has begun a 3.5 million U.S. dollars construction project to build 25 schools in southern Sudan, where primary school attendance rates are the lowest in the world.

    WFP said in a statement issued in Nairobi on Thursday that the contracts to build four schools following donations in 2005 of 800,000 dollars from the United Kingdom and 400,000 dollars from the Netherlands have already been signed.

    "The 25 new schools will add a total of 225 classrooms to the region. They will employ 100 teachers and cater to 10,125 students," the UN agency said.

    WFP is appealing to donors for another 2.3 million dollars to complete the construction of the 25 schools.

    More than 20 years of civil war, which ended in January 2005, destroyed most of southern Sudan's infrastructure.

    It is estimated that only 20 percent of children attend primary school. Of those who do, just 35 percent are girls. Out of an estimated population of 7.5 million, only 500 girls in southern Sudan complete primary school each year.

    "These troubling statistics prompted WFP to add school construction to its list of recovery projects across Sudan, where WFP aims to feed up to 6.1 million people this year in an emergency operation," it said.

    WFP Executive Director James Morris in June visited the building site of one of the schools near the town of Rumbek, where four large concrete foundation slabs had been laid for classrooms and teacher housing.

    "After so many years of war, much of southern Sudan has been reduced to rubble. There are very few school houses left, and of the children lucky enough to be getting an education, most take their lessons sitting on the ground under trees," said Morris.

    "For me, it has been very moving to see the foundations of a WFP school being laid. They also serve as the foundations for the future of thousands of young southern Sudanese lives."

    Across the entire country, WFP said it needs 746 million dollars for its emergency operation in 2006, which includes school feeding.

    However, it has only 51 percent or 380.5 million dollars of that amount, and contributions, especially cash, are urgently required. Enditem