One third of Sudanese children don’t attend school
A recently concluded conference on public education reform in Sudan affirmed that 28.3 per cent of Sudanese children in the 6-13 age group do not enjoy any education. West Darfur State registered the highest percentage of children out of school, 59.4 per cent, followed by South Darfur State, with 55.4 per cent, and Red Sea State with 53.9 per cent. The participants of the conference on “The challenges of the reality of public education reform in Sudan”, organised by the Mamoun Buheiry Center for Studies and Economic and Social Research in Africa in Khartoum on 15-16 December, criticized the Sudanese government’s negligence of free and compulsory access to education, despite the country’s ratification of Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.They also referred to the allocation of resources for education in Sudan, compared with neighbouring countries. While Kenya and Tunisia annually spend about 7 percent of the GDP on education, Sudan’s annual education budget consist of 2.7 per cent of its GPD. In addition, public education is not free, as most of the public schools demand a contribution from the parents. If they cannot pay, the pupils are not accepted. The conferees stated that education reform should be achieved through the recovery of its ownership by the communities from the government. They called on the government to stop the wars in the country, roll back the budgets on the military and security sectors and increase the education budget. On the other hand, the Sudanese administration of civil public records has acknowledged the flaws in the registration process for a national civic number in South Darfur State, especially in the city of Nyala. Maj Gen Mustafa Yusif Mustafa, the director general of the Civil Registry stated that the application rate for a national civic number in Nyala was 10 per cent. He advised to use parents’ testimonies in case a birth certificate is lacking, so that all school students of the five states of Darfur can be registered. File photo: Conference panel of the Mamoun Buheiry Center in Khartoum (Sudanile.com) Related: Significant increase in child marriages in Darfur (17 December 2013)
A recently concluded conference on public education reform in Sudan affirmed that 28.3 per cent of Sudanese children in the 6-13 age group do not enjoy any education. West Darfur State registered the highest percentage of children out of school, 59.4 per cent, followed by South Darfur State, with 55.4 per cent, and Red Sea State with 53.9 per cent.
The participants of the conference on “The challenges of the reality of public education reform in Sudan”, organised by the Mamoun Buheiry Center for Studies and Economic and Social Research in Africa in Khartoum on 15-16 December, criticized the Sudanese government’s negligence of free and compulsory access to education, despite the country’s ratification of Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
They also referred to the allocation of resources for education in Sudan, compared with neighbouring countries. While Kenya and Tunisia annually spend about 7 percent of the GDP on education, Sudan’s annual education budget consist of 2.7 per cent of its GPD. In addition, public education is not free, as most of the public schools demand a contribution from the parents. If they cannot pay, the pupils are not accepted.
The conferees stated that education reform should be achieved through the recovery of its ownership by the communities from the government. They called on the government to stop the wars in the country, roll back the budgets on the military and security sectors and increase the education budget.
On the other hand, the Sudanese administration of civil public records has acknowledged the flaws in the registration process for a national civic number in South Darfur State, especially in the city of Nyala. Maj Gen Mustafa Yusif Mustafa, the director general of the Civil Registry stated that the application rate for a national civic number in Nyala was 10 per cent. He advised to use parents’ testimonies in case a birth certificate is lacking, so that all school students of the five states of Darfur can be registered.
File photo: Conference panel of the Mamoun Buheiry Center in Khartoum (Sudanile.com)
Related: Significant increase in child marriages in Darfur (17 December 2013)
and then