Translated by Beatrice Mereta
September marks the start of the school year, but not in Sudan.
Two and a half years after the outbreak of the conflict that has devastated the country, approximately 13 million of the 17 million school-age children do not attend school, underscoring one of the world’s worst education crises.
The right to education remains a fundamental principle of democracies and is enshrined as a human right in numerous international instruments adopted by the United Nations, which formally recognise its importance. The main ones are the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone in human rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 2030 Agenda. Each of these, while specific in nature, enshrines the principles of equality, compulsory, free and universal education. Furthermore, it emphasises the duty of States to make education accessible to all without discrimination, with essential goals such as the full development of the personality, the building of a better future, the elimination of poverty and the maintenance of peace.
Despite this, 258 million children worldwide do not attend school today. Most of them are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This is the case in Sudan, where the civil war has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis, with children bearing the heaviest burden. Without the right to education, they are at risk of being sexually abused and recruited by armed groups.
In Sudan, children lack not only homes, water, food and medicine, but also schools. Save the Children, thanks to data from the Global Education Cluster — a coordination network working in the education sector and led by the organisation together with UNICEF — has shown that three quarters of children will not attend school for the second consecutive year.
Seven million of them are enrolled but unable to return to class, as 55% of schools are inaccessible, having been destroyed, damaged or located in areas of active conflict, while 18% serve as shelters for internally displaced people.
The country with the world's largest displacement crisis — with some 15 million people, more than half of them children, forced to leave their homes either within Sudan or across its borders — is also facing a dire education crisis that shows no signs of abating.
Humanitarian workers fear that some children will never finish secondary school and, unable to read or write, will be exposed to immediate and long-term dangers.
These are children longing to return to school, with dreams captured by Save the Children in letters and drawings. Najla dreams of becoming a teacher, Heba, Sara and Ali imagine themselves as doctors, Rashed wants to be a pilot, while Esraa asks only for peace and for the war to stop, because “the sound of bullets continues to frighten me”.
The commitment of humanitarian organisations
Nevertheless, there seems to be a glimmer of hope: humanitarian agencies, convinced that returning to school is a priority despite the country's dramatic situation, are reopening institutions that provide far more than education alone.
Of the 8,937 schools reopened by the Global Education Cluster, 400 are supported by Save the Children. The organisation supports over 45,000 children in formal education and around 37,000 in non-formal education, also providing meals, drinking water, sanitation and counselling training for teachers to help children cope with their trauma.
"For millions of children in Sudan, education is more than just a learning path: it is a lifeline that would protect them from exploitation, support their mental health recovery and give them the tools to rebuild their lives. This conflict has shattered their dreams and left them in a situation of extreme vulnerability. By restoring educational services for those most affected, we can help save lives and get children who have lost two years of schooling back into the classroom, preventing the loss of an entire generation in Sudan," says Abdullah Modhesh, Education Cluster Coordinator in Sudan.
The appeal launched by Save the Children and all humanitarian agencies urges the international community to do everything possible to secure peace and end a crisis that endangers both the present and the future of the next generation.
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