The Sudanese Teachers’ Committee stated that reports circulating regarding “8 million children out of school and schools being closed for 500 days” are inaccurate, asserting that these figures are significantly lower than the actual reality of the educational crisis in Sudan.
The Committee added: “In 2022, the number of children out of school was 7 million according to reports from the same organizations, while the number of children enrolled in education reached 11 million.”
In a statement released on Monday 26 January 2026 the Committee pointed out that: “With the outbreak of war in April 2023, all of those enrolled dropped out of the educational system. Additionally, more than a million children reach school-going age every year. While education resumed gradually in some states, it remains completely halted in several others. This means the actual number of children out of school far exceeds the 8 million figure.”
A Flawed Description of Reality
The statement continued: “Schools in the Darfur states, two states in the Kordofan region, and parts of North Kordofan have not opened since the beginning of the war. Meanwhile, other states have seen a limited and faltering reopening that cannot be considered a genuine return to education. Therefore, describing the closure as lasting 500 days is an incomplete characterization of the situation.”
The Committee raised the following reservations: How can the number of children out of school be limited to 8 million when there were 11 million in school before the war and 5 to 7 million already out of school? Where are the children who reached school age after the war broke out being accounted for. How can the interruption be calculated as 500 days in states that have seen no educational activity whatsoever since April 15, 2023?
The Scale of the Disaster
The Committee emphasized: “What education in Sudan is going through is a catastrophe. Downplaying it by citing inaccurate figures is a detrimental oversimplification. It hinders the understanding of the disaster’s true magnitude, thereby complicating the problem and closing the door on real solutions.”
