May 2021 – Sudan is no stranger to challenging times, having dealt with numerous conflicts, deep political crises and environmental extremes.
And now the coronavirus pandemic has created additional pressures on the education system in Sudan. Home to the highest number of out-of-school children in the Middle East and North Africa, with poverty-stricken families and ongoing conflict continuing in parts of the country. The provision of sustainable, safe and inclusive education opportunities is difficult. Without a robust infrastructure that creates accountability for student attendance, and information on the quality of teaching taking place, the true extent to which students are missing out cannot fully be known.
However, since 2012, GPE has provided Sudan with US$163 million in grants. The funding has been supporting such key education issues, in partnership with the country’s Ministry of Education and the World Bank. Collaborative working initiatives has meant that new, structured databases have been put in place to identify teacher training requirements and assess teacher training and levels of experience within the profession, so that students can be assured that they are receiving a quality education.
The funding has also enabled a new census to take place across the country. Fully auditing information such as attendance, levels of enrollment, school types and provisions available by locality. This is not only integral to understanding what level of support is required to schools in Sudan, but also to learn how many children are still not able to realise their right to an education in the country. These new systems are helping to extend education to the country’s marginalised and excluded children.
11 December 2021
