{"id":20118288,"date":"2025-07-07T18:45:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20118288"},"modified":"2025-07-07T18:46:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:46:16","slug":"sudan-media-forum-war-disruption-to-education-puts-children-at-risk-of-becoming-a-lost-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/sudan-media-forum-war-disruption-to-education-puts-children-at-risk-of-becoming-a-lost-generation","title":{"rendered":"Sudan Media Forum: War disruption to education puts children at risk of becoming a \u2018lost generation\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sudan Media Forum<\/a>\u00a0Joint Editing Room<\/em> – Compiled by Sudans Reporters<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Before the war, eleven-year-old Rehab from Khartoum used to wake her mother early to help prepare her school uniform and booklets. She dreamed of becoming a paediatrician and wrote that on every notebook. Today, she sleeps on the floor of a school, repurposed for the displaced, in Wad Madani, without access to books or classrooms. Her only school supply is a pen with no ink, which she uses to draw on her palm.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rehab is one of millions of children across Sudan whose futures have been upended by war. Since April 2023, schools across the country have shut down, forcing students out of education. Many remain in Sudan without basic learning materials. Others are scattered across neighbouring countries without documents or access to alternative schooling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to UNICEF figures from March 2025, around 17 million children in Sudan have been out of school for two years. The agency says about 90 per cent of school-aged children, nearly 19 million, now lack formal education. One million children dropped out in 2023 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sudanese Teachers Committee warns this is the worst education crisis<\/a> in the country\u2019s history.\u00a0Sudans Reporters<\/em>\u00a0spoke with Dariya Mohammed Babiker from the committee\u2019s executive office to assess the impact on students and teachers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Babiker said the war has deepened existing problems. \u201cBefore talking about education in light of the war and the loss of the future of students, it is necessary to recognise that education has been suffering from basic problems and structural imbalances since independence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that education spending has long remained between one and two per cent of the national budget. \u201cThe educational process stopped<\/a> completely in large parts of Sudan. Even where study resumed, it was not as required, which affected the quality of education and its outputs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe war deprived thousands of students of their right to education,\u201d Babiker said. She cited UNICEF reports stating that \u201cmore than 16 million students are outside the walls of schools.\u201d Some, she warned, have joined armed groups, either aligned with the army [Sudanese Armed Forces] or the RSF [Rapid Support Forces].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSchools were destroyed and turned into military barracks or cemeteries, and the bookstores were burned,\u201d she said. \u201cAbout 50 per cent of students did not sit for the last Sudanese certificate exams, especially in RSF-controlled areas<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also warned the 2024 cohort faces the same fate. \u201cThere are three payments accumulated for the first grade of primary school, with millions rebounding to illiteracy due to the suspension of education and the deterioration of economic conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee is calling for a neutral national body to coordinate education. \u201cEducation in conditions of war, emergencies and disasters needs special plans and integration of roles between the government, civil society and international entities,\u201d Babiker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Babiker said most teachers have been displaced or fled Sudan. \u201cTheir salaries have been stopped for more than a year. They lost their homes and property. Their current salaries are not enough for one day, due to inflation and the erosion of the value of the Sudanese pound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said schools are no longer safe. \u201cThere are remnants of war, unexploded materials and remains of bodies in some neighbourhoods. There is also the risk of epidemics with the approach of the autumn season and the absence of active health centres after many hospitals went out of service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside Sudan, many teachers were forced to abandon the profession altogether. \u201cSome had to work in other jobs to support their families. Others were displaced, arrested or killed. This deepened the wounds of the education sector and made its crises worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudanese students abroad<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Egypt, Libya and Chad, Sudanese students face high fees and legal obstacles<\/a>. In Egypt, school costs per child range from 21,000 to 25,000 Egyptian pounds, about 500 US dollars, excluding daily expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One parent told Sudans Reporters<\/em>: \u201cThis is a heavy task.\u201d In some cities, intermediate exam fees reach 7,000 pounds. Many families cannot secure residency papers for their children, threatening their ability to continue school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeks before Egypt\u2019s high school exams, more than 1,500 Sudanese students discovered they had no seating numbers, despite having paid private schools to register them. \u201cThe money was wasted, and the school year was lost without a certificate or alternative plan,\u201d said one parent. \u201cWe were left watching our children cry, with nothing we could do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another parent added: \u201cWe are not asking for the impossible. We just want our kids to study. To live like normal children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNICEF has warned that \u201cSudan is threatened with the loss of an entire generation if the world does not move now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sudan Media Forum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This article, prepared by Sudans Reporters<\/em>, is published by the Sudanese Media Forum and its member institutions to highlight the scale of the collapse in education amid Sudan\u2019s ongoing war.<\/p>\n