ALBAWABA - The UK-based NGO Save the Children released an analytical statement today warning of the growing number of attacks on schools and education in Sudan as the war continues to unfold for the 13th month.
Since the war raged in April 2023, more than 88 recorded reports of violent attacks on educational facilities across the country, with most of them being closed now.
According to the study, incidents include airstrikes on schools that killed and injured students and instructors, torturing teachers, shooting and abducting teachers, and sexual abuse against students inside educational facilities.
The analysis is released at the same time that the Education Cluster, a coalition of aid organizations that works in Sudan's education and includes Save the Children, warns that the nation is on the verge of experiencing the worst education crisis in history.
With most of the nation's schools closed, over 18 million of the estimated 22 million children in the country have not attended school for more than a year.
To conduct the study, Save the Children investigated specific cases of armed attacks that had an impact on the educational system, recorded in Sudan between April 2023 and April 2024, and discovered an alarming increase in attacks.
In the twelve months before the war, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) documented twenty-three of these instances.
In Africa, there have been an increasing number of vicious attacks against educational institutions. Save the Children conducted a similar analysis in February in advance of the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The analysis revealed an increase in violence against students, teachers, and schools throughout the member countries of the AU, with 411 cases reported, which translates to a 20% increase in 2023.
Having selected education as the "AU theme for 2024," Save the Children called on leaders in Sudan and throughout the African Union to make schools safe spaces for kids. They also pledged to constructing resilient education systems to expand access to inclusive, lifelong, high-quality, and pertinent learning throughout Africa.
Dr. Arif Noor, Country Director for Save the Children in Sudan, said: "It’s not just children’s lives that are on the line, but also their futures. Millions of children continue to face disruptions to their education with their schools destroyed by bombs, taken over as shelters for displaced families, or learning stopped as children flee,".
