In Sudan, one of the poorest countries in the world,“about 6.9 million girls and boys, or one in three children of school age, do not go to school”, say in a joint statement (link in English) the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the British NGO Save the Children. What future can we hope for when we have never set foot in school? The question arises today in this country.
Access to education, especially in rural areas, has never been obvious but the problem has grown. In addition to poverty or geographical disparities, learning has been further compromised due to the deep socio-economic crisis that the country has been going through since the October 2021 coup. According to humanitarian organizations, less than half six-year-olds enrolled in school and others stopped going during the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the worsening socio-economic situation, recurrent conflicts and prolonged school closures, children are dropping out of school and the chances of girls and boys returning are low.
Save the Children and UnicefJoint press release
Girls are particularly vulnerable in “an often dangerous environment”, as humanitarian organizations point out: intimidation, gender-based violence, abuse and corporal punishment are repeated and are never officially reported. This is enough to dissuade families from sending their daughters to school.
Basic infrastructure (fence, toilets and furniture) is sorely lacking and teachers prefer to go to better equipped and safer establishments. As a result, there is a lack of teachers and the quality of teaching is often mediocre. The 12 million children in public schools are not learning basic skills, according to Save the Children and Unicef.
“No country can afford to have a third of its children without basic literacy, numeracy or numeracy skills.”
Mandeep O’Brien, UNICEF Representative in Sudan
General Burhane’s coup cut short the democratic transition launched in 2019 after the fall of dictator Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for thirty years.
Education now seems to be sacrificed. The State devotes less than 1% of its budget to education whereas it was 12% a year ago. Unicef and Save the children call for urgent action without which learning in Sudan will become “a generational disaster”.