For the second year, it continues to go through a crisis that has internally displaced 12.36 million people and forced another 3.27 million to move to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan, according to the latest United Nations data. Among all of them, there are many and, with them, the classrooms. The hostilities have prevented some 400,000 students from taking their secondary school exams in December 2024, according to the Sudan Teachers’ Committee. Educational challenges also affect neighboring nations hosting refugees, where legal barriers and poor infrastructure increase the risk of school dropouts.
Education is not only a basic human right, but it is also an essential pillar for the future of Sudan. To deprive an entire generation of its education is to perpetuate poverty, inequality and violence. As we mark the last International Day of Education, we remember that the children of Sudan have shown admirable resilience in the face of almost two years of conflict, trauma and uncertainty. But we cannot allow that resilience to turn into resignation.
The impact of this crisis, one of the worst in the world, but it is undoubtedly the girls who face the worst consequences. Gender norms, already restrictive in peacetime, become sentences in the midst of a crisis of this magnitude. For them, leaving school in the middle of a conflict like this is practically inevitable. She is always seen as secondary to her supposed responsibilities: taking care of the home or her siblings, going in search of water, firewood or food, or even undergoing a forced marriage while still minors. Girls and young women are exposed to abuse and violence around the world, but much more so in a context of conflict like the one we see in Sudan.
Ensuring access to schools is crucial, especially for girls, who are the first to be displaced from the classrooms and the last to return
This situation is getting worse. The latest analysis from the Integrated Food Security Classification System (IPC) highlighted the famine conditions experienced by several regions in Sudan, and has projected worsening conditions if the current conflict dynamics continue. However, the Sudanese government has rejected these conclusions and decided to abandon the CPI, in a country where access is already a challenge.
The impact of this situation threatens to perpetuate an intergenerational cycle of poverty, inequality and violence. More than 17 million of Sudan’s 19 million school-age children have had their education interrupted. In the spiral of violence that continues to ravage the country since April 2023, only 20% of schools have been able to reopen their doors. At Plan International we know that, without immediate interventions, this educational crisis could condemn an entire generation to a future without opportunities.
Education should never be considered anything less than a basic human right and a vital tool for the reconstruction of an attacked and traumatized country and society. Protecting and guaranteeing access to schools is crucial, especially for girls, who are the first to be displaced from classrooms and the last to return. This requires that governments, the international community and local actors continue to work together to create safe routes to schools and establish educational alternatives adapted to the context of the conflict, such as distance learning programs or temporary schools in refugee camps throughout the region. .
It’s time to act. For the future of these boys and girls, for the future of Sudan, safe access to education must always be a priority.
