Letters to Sudan: The education crisis is threatening an entire generation

The world is not moving fast enough to help Sudan or its children. In an effort to raise awareness about the country's plight, Fatma Naib has penned a four-part series on her experiences with Sudan and its people, as a journalist, a former UN employee and a friend. In this third part, she writes about Sudan's education crisis.

Read the first part, about her journey from journalism to advocacy in Khartoum, here. The second part about Sudan's hungry children is here.

As war continues to rage in Sudan, more than 19 million children are now out of school. Each one is special and deserves the right to an education.

Like Makhtoum Abdallah, whom I met back in 2019 when he was 15 years old.

My friend and colleague Iman Mustafa had shared how inspired she was by a young man she met in Nyala, South Darfur, while visiting a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) and working on various education-related stories for UNICEF.

Makhtoum had one of the highest scores in the eighth grade in his state. That school year is critical in Sudan because it determines a student's likelihood of entering university.

According to Mustafa, Makhtoum not only scored the highest grades in his region, but he was also very ambitious. "He wants to go to Columbia University in the United States," Mustafa said.

I remember how she spoke about Makhtoum's confidence and the pride in how he carried himself. He was an internally displaced person dreaming about going to one of the prestigious universities in the US! At 15, he already spoke English, Turkish and some French, after teaching himself these languages through books. I was curious about him and wanted to know more.

The more I learned about Makhtoum, the more I realised that he was a special young man with a bright future ahead of him. But he still had all odds against him in succeeding. Why? He was among the 3.7 million IDPs in Sudan. Now, the war has increased the number to 7.3 million people, including 3.5 million children, making Sudan home to the largest child displacement crisis in the world!

Makhtoum did not have electricity and very limited internet access.

Despite the harsh reality on the ground, Makhtoum worked hard and strived to learn. He is one of the lucky ones because he was in school and doing very well. Due to the war that broke out in April 2023, an alarming 19 million children are out of school and deprived of education.

Advocacy and storytelling

A key component of my work when I was leading communication and advocacy was to raise awareness about the plight of children in Sudan and advocate for their fundamental rights as well as the government of Sudan’s accountability in investing in quality education.

Coming from a media background equipped me with storytelling techniques to communicate and advocate. Working with UNICEF's national staff and people like Iman Mustafa who were connected to young people in Sudan and what they think and feel was also very important.

After meeting Makhtoum, Mustafa wrote a short article about him on UNICEF's website. It grabbed the attention of an organisation that wanted to help him with his college applications and help pay for university. We held regular meetings with the group and Makhtoum, and over time developed a better understanding of who he is, the community he came from and the challenges he faced.

Mustafa continued to work with Makhtoum, and a year later, helped him get appointed as one of three youth advocates who supported various causes to help Sudan.

In his new role, Makhtoum championed education, explaining when he was appointed: “Education can take us from the darkness to light. I’m over the moon to be a Youth Advocate. When I was born, I faced countless problems, but I didn’t stop dreaming for big things. Nothing will change unless you change.”

Today, Makhtoum is enrolled in a university in Türkiye, where he continues to advocate for Sudan, especially the children. The last project I worked on with him before he left Sudan to pursue his education was a TED talk.

In it, Makhtoum shared his hopes and dreams, and continued to champion the importance of an education. The talk was very inspiring and garnered almost 2 million views on TED’s official channels.

It seemed like a simple enough event, but nothing is so simple in Sudan. Makhtoum delivered his speech in December 2021, in the middle of a military takeover before the war.

Navigating a military coup

At the time, the internet was cut for a few months for the whole country, and certain mobile networks were operational for a limited time.

To do the talk, we had to safely fly Makhtoum to Khartoum after securing consent from his family, which was also difficult due to unreliable phone lines and no internet. To limit movement due to the heavy military presence in the streets and curfews, we decided the safest and most reliable strategy was to transform my apartment into a studio.

This was done by production team El Mastaba, led by Idreesy Koum, a group of young Sudanese creatives who went above and beyond to get the job done. The team had filmed a mini-documentary with him a few months prior, so he felt familiar and safe with the entire team.

Since then, he has continued his work as a youth advocate and attended the UN General Assembly in New York. He is thriving, but like many Sudanese inside and outside the country, the war has affected him, resulting in the loss of family members and a constant worry for his parents and siblings.

Yet Makhtoum remains one of the lucky ones. There are millions of Makhtoums or potential Makhtoums in Sudan. But the ongoing war is turning an already dire situation into a "catastrophic" one, according to the UN secretary general.

When I first moved to Sudan in 2018, I recall how shocked I was to know that around 3 million children were out of school back then.

To me, that number was hard to believe, because anyone who understands Sudan's culture knows that Sudanese people are known to be educators, doctors, and in general, a population of people with higher education degrees.

So imagine today, that the number of children out of school has jumped from 3 million to 19 million. In a country of 46.9 million people where children represent roughly 47 percent of the population, this figure is alarming and could spur on the loss of an entire generation in Sudan.

Girls' plight

Even before the war, the Sudanese education system faced many challenges.

Prolonged school closures due to conflicts, climate disasters and the COVID pandemic were among some of the contributing factors hindering Sudanese children's ability to access education.

Girls remain especially vulnerable. Many schools do not have toilets, which makes it harder for girls especially when they hit puberty. Once children drop out of school, the chance of them returning to school are low.

Along with girls, other vulnerable groups include children from the poorest households, those living in rural areas and children with disabilities, exposing the huge inequalities in access to learning.

The shift to digital learning during the pandemic also highlighted a gap between those with access to technology and those without.

This digital divide impacted girls in Sudan, who often face additional barriers to education due to economic constraints, cultural norms and geographical challenges.

I remember meeting a young girl named Matab back in 2021 in the city of Madani. She told me how the school closures during the pandemic affected her and how many of her classmates did not return once the schools reopened.

She, like many children in Sudan, did not have access to online learning. So they missed out on education. Also, many of the girls from her class did not return because they got married and the boys from the other classes started working to support their families.

Solutions

Amid the alarming numbers of children out of school, there exist several interventions and innovative solutions to tackle the learning crisis in Sudan.

Understanding the long-term cost of not educating children in Sudan, the country's Education Ministry, the UN and other partners and organisations worked to develop many prevention and strengthening strategies and programmes. These included alternative learning, e-learning, and learning passports.

The last event campaign I worked on in Sudan before the military takeover in October 2021 was the launch of the learning passport, an online and offline e-learning platform that was essentially made free for all, based on agreements with telecommunication companies in Sudan.

Powered by Microsoft, it provides students access to the Sudanese curriculum through their phones or tablets for free. Another impressive innovation are e-learning centres.

These centres target out-of-school children who don’t have access to regular schools, and run on solar power by trained local facilitators in classrooms made by traditional local products.

This is a golden opportunity for children, especially those living in rural areas or living nomadic lifestyles.

A million Makhtoums

Makhtoum is now a 20-year-old man studying food science in Türkiye, with plans to return home once he graduates so he can help his people.

Speaking to TRT World this week, he said, "Before the war, I was speaking in cultural centres and institutes in Otash camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) to spread the message of peace to my community and suddenly the war came and destroyed everything."

Makhtoum, who said three of his family members have already been killed in the conflict, added, "I hope that the war stops urgently so that our brothers, friends and classmates are safe and back to school. The war must stop now so children are protected to continue learning in a safe environment.

"Education is the only way that can take Sudan out of this war and help it catch up to the train of prosperity which will not happen without an URGENT CEASEFIRE and a real peace agreement."

Indeed, Sudan's boys and girls deserve the chance to learn and grow. They deserve peace, and, just like Makhtoum, they too have the potential to learn and thrive. Education is lifesaving, it's an entry to health, protection, and a lifeline which brings entire communities together.

Education was ultimately Makhtoum's lifeline and an opportunity for a better future. Some 19 million children are currently not learning today since the war started in April 2023. An entire generation will be lost if this war does not stop. Without urgent action now, more children will be left behind. Loss of education is a loss Sudan can’t afford.