The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has stated that more than eight million children in Sudan have been deprived of education, more than a thousand days after the outbreak of the conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), warning of a “lost generation” of children.
In an interview with UN News on the occasion of International Day of Education, Eva Hinds, the UNICEF spokesperson in Sudan, said that 11% of schools are being used as shelters for displaced families or for non-educational purposes.
She added that five million children have been forced to flee their homes, causing them to lose contact with their teachers and educational materials.
She continued: “Sudanese children have lost a great deal regarding education since the start of the conflict. Today, there are millions of children out of school. According to our latest available estimates, that number is around eight million children.”
She further noted: “This is a massive number of children out of school, and this, of course, does not only threaten their future but could also affect their families, their community, and the country as a whole.”
She revealed that 6,400 schools in Sudan are currently completely closed and offer no educational services, and that one out of every three schools has become unusable due to destruction or damage resulting from the war.
She went on to say: “Since the conflict has been ongoing for a long time, and we are now approaching the three-year mark, a large number of schools have been destroyed or damaged during the conflict. Today, an estimated one-third of schools are no longer fit for use, and about 11% of schools are being used for other purposes.”
She added: “There are teachers who have fled the country, and there is a need for books and educational materials. Therefore, the situation is difficult in terms of continuing education. Nearly five million children have been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of the conflict. Displacement, of course, leads to deprivation in many ways.”
