Horrendous schools situation in N. Darfur camps

The schools in two camps in North Darfur are extremely overcrowded, undersupplied and understaffed. Students sit on the floor in classrooms at 17 schools in Abu Shouk Camp and another 12 schools at Al Salaam Camp. Some children have spent their entire lives in the camps.Currently there are at least 120 students per classroom.  Textbooks are almost non-existent, with approximately one book per 17 students. Teachers said that the frequent changes to the national curriculum have contributed to the decline in the performance of their pupils. They are also missing textbooks for some subjects. The teachers requested that aid organizations and philanthropists intervene to save education in the camps of Darfur.

In a related problem, many families cannot affort to pay school fees for their children at Abu Shouk and Al Salaam Camps. Thousands of children of the displaced families do not attend school but rather go to the markets in El Fasher to work in restaurants, wash vegetables, shine shoes, sell newspapers or beg. According to a survey conducted by education activists in 2009, the number of children from Abu Shouk camp who spend their time in this way reached 5000. One activist in Abu Shouk told Radio Dabanga that the figure now is perhaps twice that number. She explained that the survey was not repeated in 2010 or 2011 due to harrassment by authorities against the activists.