In the year 1990, Sudan implemented the 8-3-4 system of education (The World Bank, 2012). The system comprises of 8 years of primary education, 3 years of secondary education, and 3 to 4 years of college education. At all levels of learning, the Arabic language has been adopted as the main teaching dialect.
The government of Sudan inherited most of the schools from the British government after the country attained independence. The British government had introduced education to Sudan to train servants who served their colonial administration. Therefore, most schools were clustered at Khartoum and other urban areas.
Cases of civil war are the major factors that have led to the closure of several schools in the southern and western regions of Sudan. Civil wars are to blame for the reduced rate in school enrollment. The report by the Sudanese ministry of education released in the year 2006 showed that about 53% of eligible pupils were enrolled in primary education (Kavanaugh, 2013).
By the year 2010, the enrollment rate had increased to 90%. Based on this, it is apparent that the education enrollment rate in Sudan is increasing steadily. The above statistics imply that a large portion of the Sudanese is now getting access to basic education than before.
Despite the current developments in education sector, there are cases of inequality in the enrollment of students at various levels of learning depending on the geographical regions. In the year 2012, a World Bank report showed that the levels of enrollment in some provinces were below average (The World Bank, 2012).
The civil wars and unrest observed in the last decade in country were blamed for the education inequality experienced in some provinces. Equally, the report indicated that there is disparity in education of boy and girl child. As such, the girl child was disadvantaged. Customarily, the girl child is supposed to attend school to a certain age.
Through this, a number of girls do not progress pass the primary education. However, the boy child is allowed to proceed to secondary levels. In the year 2011, a report by the World Bank showed that 70% of the Sudanese were literate. The literacy rate among the males was 79% and 60% among the females (Kavanaugh, 2013).
In 2012, UNICEF initiated a program to enhance the enrollment of a large number of students into classrooms (The World Bank, 2012). The program also aimed at ensuring that those who enroll at primary schools complete their education at higher levels of learning. The program’s long-term goals were to ensure that over 1million students who had dropped out of school were given alternative education.
In the past few years, president Bashir’s government in support with the World Bank has initiated an education program. The program is referred to as the Basic Education project (BEP). BEP aims at providing schools with building materials and training to their teachers. The project has greatly helped in the construction and development of quality education in Sudan. BEP funded a teacher-training program at the Institute of El-Obeid.
Through the program, about 7500-trained teachers from Blue Nile in South Kordofan and about 3800-trained teachers from North Kordofan were trained (The World Bank, 2012). Although the program stopped in 2013, its contribution to the society is still evident. In general, the efforts of UNICEF, World Bank, and BEP have played a great role in improving the quality of education and the education system in Sudan.
References
Kavanaugh, D. (2013). Sudan. Philadelphia: Mason Crest Publishers.
The World Bank (2012). The Status of the Education Sector in Sudan. Washington, D.C: World Bank Publishers.