By: Hasiba Suleiman
Khartoum, July 6, 2025 –
(Sudans Reporters)
On an ordinary morning before the war, 11-year-old Rahab from Khartoum would wake her mother early to help her prepare her school uniform and neatly arranged notebooks. Rahab dreamed of becoming a pediatrician and proudly wrote it at the top of her schoolbooks. But that morning routine no longer exists. Today, Rahab lives on the floor of a crowded room in a displacement school in Wad Madani. Without access to school or books, she holds an inkless pen and draws silent shapes on her palm.
Rahab’s story is just one among millions left in the wake of Sudan’s ongoing war. For countless children, the basic features of normal life—especially education—are fading away. Thousands of schools have been shut down, and millions of students have been cut off from learning—some trapped inside Sudan without access to even the most basic educational resources, while others have scattered to neighboring countries without documents or alternative opportunities.
The disaster has gone beyond destroyed buildings and unpaid salaries—it has denied an entire generation its basic right to education, amid a near-total absence of organized intervention or emergency recovery plans. Teachers themselves—displaced and surviving on aid, or living under bombardment—are struggling just to stay alive, let alone fulfill their educational mission.
Alarming Statistics
According to a recent UNICEF report (March 2025), around 17 million Sudanese children have been out of school for two years due to war and instability, a crisis the organization described as “a generation at risk.” UNICEF also revealed that nearly 90% of school-age children—approximately 19 million—currently lack access to formal education. One million children have been out of school since 2023 alone.
These alarming figures confirm that Sudan is facing the worst educational crisis in its modern history, making it urgent to provide alternative learning pathways and psychosocial support to prevent a total collapse of an entire generation’s future.
A Critical Question
This report aims to tell the stories of both students and teachers, examine the scope of the disaster in numbers, and seek answers to the urgent question:
What can be done now to save education in Sudan before it’s too late?
To start, Sudans Reporters posed its questions to Durriya Mohamed Babiker from the Executive Office of the Sudanese Teachers’ Committee, focusing on the war’s impact on student access to education, especially in conflict zones.
A Deep Crisis with Structural Roots
Durriya began by stating that even before the war, Sudan’s education system had been plagued by long-standing structural issues since independence. “Education was never a national priority,” she said, “and suffered from decades of deliberate neglect—politically and economically.”
She noted that government spending on education has never exceeded 1–2% of the national budget, leading to steady decline and, now, total collapse in many parts of the country. Even in areas where schools have reopened, conditions remain far from adequate, severely affecting the quality of education and learning outcomes.
Students Out of School… and Into War
Durriya explained that the war has denied thousands of children their right to education. She cited UNICEF reports estimating that more than 16 million students are now out of school. Many have even been recruited into armed groups—either with the army or with RSF militias—as “mobilized youth.”
Schools Destroyed, Teachers Unpaid
She added: “Many schools have been destroyed, turned into military bases or burial grounds. Bookstores and curriculum warehouses were burned. Nearly 50% of students could not sit for their Sudanese Certificate exams (2024–2025), particularly in RSF-controlled areas.”
Education as a Tool of Division
Durriya further noted that education has become a mechanism of ethnic and regional segregation, losing its identity as a universal and fair right. Some students have been detained and denied access to exams, with many suffering long-term psychological trauma. “Their results have been disappointing due to inhumane conditions,” she said, “and no one has been held accountable.”
A Warning of Repeat Tragedy
Durriya warned that unless urgent measures are taken, this year’s graduating class (2024) could face a repeat of last year’s disaster. There are now three entire school cohorts piled up waiting to start Grade 1, and many children are falling back into illiteracy due to the shutdown of schools and economic hardship.
A Call for a National Education Committee
The Sudanese Teachers’ Committee is calling for the formation of an independent national education committee, noting that education during war and emergencies requires special planning and collaboration among the government, civil society, and international organizations.
The Teachers’ Plight
Most teachers, Durriya said, are either displaced or living abroad. Their salaries have been suspended for over a year, and they’ve lost their homes and possessions. Even current payments are barely enough to survive a single day, given skyrocketing inflation and the collapse of the Sudanese pound.
A Deadly School Environment
Durriya pointed out that the school environment has become hazardous, with unexploded ordnance, war debris, and human remains still present in some neighborhoods. Disease outbreaks loom with the rainy season approaching and many health facilities out of service.
Teachers Abroad: Dignity Lost, Jobs Changed
Sudanese teachers abroad have been forced to abandon their profession, taking on other jobs to support their families. Some have faced displacement, arrest, or even death, deepening the wounds of an already devastated education sector.
Exiled Students: Education Under Threat
Sudanese students in countries like Egypt, Libya, and Chad face tough challenges. In Egypt, for instance, annual schooling costs per student range between 21,000 to 25,000 Egyptian pounds (around $500 USD)—not including daily expenses. This has led many families to pull their children out of school due to high fees.
One parent told Sudans Reporters with deep sorrow, “This is a heavy burden,” expressing the hopelessness many families feel about their children’s education.
Exam fees for the Sudanese Intermediate Certificate in Egypt reach 3,000 pounds in Cairo, and up to 7,000 pounds in cities like Aswan, Luxor, and Alexandria. Families also face difficulty obtaining legal residency for their children, which threatens their continued schooling.
Corruption in Private Schools: A Stolen Future
One of the most devastating issues is the lack of accountability in private schools. Just weeks before Egypt’s national secondary exams, more than 1,500 Sudanese students discovered they had no official exam registration numbers, despite paying hefty fees to schools that promised to enroll them. The money vanished—and so did their academic year.
“We are not asking for the impossible,” said one father in deep frustration. “We just want our children to study… to live like normal kids.”
A Crime Against a Generation
In stories like these, failure is not just a statistic in a report—it becomes a crime against an entire generation searching for light in the darkness of a war that has stolen everything, even their childhood dreams.
UNICEF’s starkest warning remains:
“Sudan is at risk of losing an entire generation if the world does not act now.”
The Sudanese Media Forum and its partner institutions publish this report by Sudans Reporters to highlight the educational catastrophe brought on by the war—and to echo UNICEF’s urgent call:
Sudan is on the brink of losing its future.
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