Sudan: How Did the Upheaval of Last Year’s Coup Exacerbate the Education Crisis?

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a joint statement with the Save the Children's organization that nearly seven million children in Sudan, or one-third of the country's children, are deprived from education, warning that without urgent action, the learning crisis in Sudan will turn to a generational catastrophe.

One in every three school-aged children does not attend school in Sudan.

The statement also pointed out that another 12 million children are threatened to leave schools because of the lack of teachers, the deterioration of the infrastructure, and the upheaval of last year's coup.

The two organizations called for reopening schools and providing alternative education opportunities for children who have missed many years of school.

 

An Education Crisis

School is more than just a building for children to learn the ABCs, reading, or mathematics.

It is a space to learn social and emotional skills and to feel loved and safe as well. Schools also protect children from physical dangers like abuse, exploitation, and recruitment into armed groups by giving children stability and structure in a volatile environment. Education for Sudanese children is lifesaving.

Unfortunately, around 6.9 million school-aged children do not go to school, "and a further 12 million will have their school years heavily interrupted by a lack of sufficient teachers, infrastructure, and an enabling learning environment to make them reach their full potential," according to UNICEF.

With the exacerbation of social and economic situations, the continuous conflicts, and the COVID-19 school closures, the chances of girls and boys returning to school are very low, especially for girls, which has, in turn, deepened the gender inequalities in Sudan, especially among adolescent girls.

Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, is still facing turmoil that has increased in the wake of last year's coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The coup hampered the fragile transition that began following the 2019 ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, whose three-decade rule was marked by the critical economic situation, government mismanagement, in addition to internal discord.

The unrest that followed the coup sparked near-weekly protests and fueled a mounting economic crisis. Hundreds of teachers in Sudan have also protested in recent months criticizing the low wages.

The significant deterioration of the security situation and the spread of tribal conflicts, especially in Darfur and Blue Nile, have led to hundreds of deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands from conflict areas.

The severe political and security crisis followed the measures taken by Sudan's military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on October 25, 2021, ending the partnership between the civil and military sides after the fall of the Brotherhood government in the popular revolution in April 2019.

 

Deteriorating Situations

The Sudanese people have become not only at the heart of political turmoil and shots from the security services, but they have also become victims of the collapse of various economic sectors resulting in the exacerbation of basic goods and services prices and the high rate of unemployment, poverty, and illiteracy.

The Sudanese have not yet escaped the repercussions of the economic reform programs (liberating fuel, increasing electricity prices, and devaluing the pound) under the pressures of the International Monetary Fund and the continuous political turmoil.

This comes in light of the suffering of the Sudanese economy leading to the suspension of major projects in the country, which led to the disruption of exports.

Citizens' lives entered a new turning point amid hundreds of factories closing their doors, thus laying off tens of thousands of workers.

It is noteworthy that the statistics on the level of poverty in Sudan are still ambiguous and raise controversy among specialists.

Hamza Guenouni, a researcher at Kent University, told Al-Estiklal that "46.5 percent of the population of Sudan are under the poverty line, as UN reports revealed, but I believe that the poverty rate in Sudan reaches 80 percent."

"The situation in Sudan today confirms that the poverty rate exceeds 80%, in light of the decline in all production rates, imbalances and migration from the countryside to the cities, in addition to the aggravation of unemployment, with  the increase in migration abroad in large numbers, this is indirectly affecting the situation of children there, of course."

He continued: "To escape poverty and hunger, most of the parents in Sudan drop their children out of school in search of employment, saying they do not have time to wait, otherwise, they will not be able to have food, water, or even shelter."

"While poverty may have a negative effect on education, education has an increasingly positive effect on poverty. Proper education will increase one's skill set and open the door to a world of new employment opportunities and increase the potential for higher income; with each additional year of schooling, earnings increase by about 10%, and for every dollar invested in an additional year of schooling earnings increase by $5 in low-income countries and $2.5 in lower-middle-income countries."

 

Urgent Actions Needed

To save as many children as possible, UNICEF and Save the Children in Sudan called for reopening schools and offering alternative education opportunities for children who lost many years of school, saying this is a top priority.

 "Without an ambitious and exerted focus to address these crucial issues, more girls and boys will lose their childhoods to labor, marriage, and other rights violations." Arshad Malik, Country Director at Save the Children in Sudan.

According to the joint report, "globally, due to the worst shock to education and learning in recorded history, learning poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries. This generation of students now risks losing US$21 trillion in potential lifetime earnings in present value, or the equivalent of 17 percent of today's global GDP."

"No country can afford to have one-third of its school-age children with no basic literacy, numeracy, or digital skills. Education is not just a right – it is also a lifeline," says Mandeep O'Brien - UNICEF Representative in Sudan.

Without urgent action, the learning crisis in Sudan will become a generational catastrophe.

The organizations also called on the Government in Sudan to reopen schools as soon as possible, during the whole academic year, and to make sure that no schools are occupied by armed actors, in addition to facilitating additional alternative education opportunities to guarantee no child is left behind.

"We call on all stakeholders—foremost the Government—to ensure sufficient funding for education is available, including for teacher salaries and school feeding programs," according to the report.