Educational issues remain highly sensitive and critically important topic for societies and countries. They are given priority, allocated budgets, and researchers and experts devote their efforts and expertise to develop and advance societies to occupy a high and advanced position among nations. To discuss educational issues in Sudan, we sat with Dr. Yasser Mohamed Maki Abu Harraz, the former Director of the National Center for Educational Research and Curriculum, and the former Director of the National Center for Teacher Training, to present him with a set of issues related to the education in Sudan.

First, we would like to get a general overview of the development of education in Sudan over the past years.

– The Ministry of Education in Sudan has regularly held national conferences on education for review, development, and alignment with the overall educational system in the country. The first National Conference on Education was held in 1969, during which the educational ladder was changed to a (6, 3, 3) system instead of the (4, 4, 4) years system. Subsequent national educational conferences followed, including a significant one in 1990 that for the first time in Sudan's history, clearly defined the goals of Sudanese education since its independence on January 1, 1956. The latest was the National Education Conference in 2012, covering general education, higher education, and technical and vocational education.

For general education, the conference recommended reverting to separate subject curricula at the basic education stage and maintained the school year at 210 days. It also added an additional academic year to the educational ladder (8, 3) years, making it 12 years instead of 11. The Ministry of Education was given the option to place this year in either the basic or secondary education stage based on preference. After conducting numerous discussion sessions, workshops, and studies, the Ministry decided to add the year to the basic education stage, making it 9 years instead of 8. Additionally, the 2012 education conference recommended revising the goals of Sudanese education and the objectives of educational stages.

What is the extent of education spread and enrollment in educational institutions in Sudan compared to the population?

– The estimates for the number of students in general education stages (pre-university education), including Quranic schools and literacy classes, as well as students in both public and private higher education institutions, amounted to about 10 million students out of Sudan's total estimated population of 45 million in 2019. The estimates suggest that the population of Sudan reached around 48 million by the end of 2023.

What are the main issues facing the educational process in Sudan?

– The main educational issues in Sudan can be summarized as follows:

1. School Buildings: For instance, the Federal Ministry of Education's statistics for the academic year 2019/2020 for basic education schools (formerly) in Sudan showed that the highest percentage of available school buildings was in White Nile State (79%), followed by Kassala State (74%), and the lowest in North Darfur State (6%). For secondary education, the highest classroom availability was in Red Sea State (100%), followed by Kassala State (98%).
2. Textbooks: The National Center for Educational Research and Curriculum sets the specifications for printing school textbooks to ensure quality in terms of paper, coloring, cover, and printing quality. These specifications are provided to printers along with the original books to be adhered to precisely.
3. Seating: Several Sudanese states suffer from a shortage of seating for both students and teachers.
4. Public Education Spending and Financing: Economic factors are among the most influential on education, either positively or negatively, as they significantly affect educational budgets. The modern global concept of education is that it is an investment process, and educational planning now relies on economic indicators. The relationship between education and the economy is reciprocal; as the economy prospers, so does education, and vice versa.
5. Teacher Issues: Teachers are the most critical element in the educational process as they implement the curriculum in schools and play a fundamental role in nurturing and caring for students, monitoring their overall development intellectually, spiritually, physically, culturally, and socially. Therefore, it is essential to fully support all aspects related to teachers, from selection, preparation, appointment, training, and qualification to professional development, career progression, and social, financial, and psychological care. Teacher training is a top priority in educational planning because the teacher is the cornerstone of the educational process, and the success of this process primarily depends on the teacher's training and preparation in line with educational changes.

Given this reality, what are the main challenges facing education in Sudan?

– Based on the key educational issues mentioned above, the annual field visit results conducted by the National Center for Teacher Training and the National Center for Educational Research and Curriculum from 2000 to 2019, and reviewing the statistics and reports submitted to the General Directorate of Educational Planning at the Ministry of Education, and through the coordination educational conferences attended by ministers and directors of education from the states during the same period, the main challenges facing education in Sudan are:

1. Insufficient Funding for Education: Both from the central government and the states, which negatively impacts education, resulting in shortages in textbooks, teacher guides, seating, teacher recruitment and training, school building construction and maintenance, lack of laboratories, school activity tools, weak educational supervision, and limited educational technologies and aids.
2. Variation in Education Quality between States: Wealthier states enjoy better educational conditions, while poorer states suffer from deteriorating education quality.
3. Low Teacher Salaries and Benefits: Along with delayed salary payments.
4. Overcrowded Classrooms in Some States: Including Khartoum State, which negatively affects academic performance.
5. Long Rainy Season in Southern States: Such as South Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile (6 to 8 months), which disrupts the educational process, especially as some schools in these areas are built with unstable materials (hay).
6. Dropout Rates in Rural Schools: Due to students helping their families in farming and herding, early marriage among nomadic tribes, and a shortage of teachers in rural areas as teachers prefer to work in cities for family and financial reasons. Not to mention the insufficient teacher training at various levels.

How has the ongoing war in Sudan for more than a year and a half affected general and higher education?

– The deterioration of education in Sudan began with the leftist government led by former Prime Minister Dr. Abdalla Hamdok after the fall of the National Salvation Government in 2019. This was due to teachers and university professors frequently stopping work and the blocking of roads and disruption of transportation for extended periods, leading to a near-complete paralysis of the educational process, with three consecutive university freshman classes accumulating without studying after passing high school exams and being accepted into universities.

The significant decline in Sudanese education came with the onset of war initiated by the rebel militia led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, aided by foreign mercenaries, on April 15, 2023. This resulted in the destruction of several universities and schools (completely or partially) in some states, especially Khartoum and West Darfur. Most higher education institutions in some states were burned and destroyed, such as the damage to the University of Gezira buildings in Wad Madani. A large number of students were displaced along with their families due to the war, relocating to other areas within Sudan or seeking refuge in neighboring countries like Egypt, Libya, Chad, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.

Are there American strategies to intervene in education curricula in the Arab world, are there practical applications for these strategies, and what has been Sudan’s experience in dealing with them?

– We know that there are foreign (American, “Israeli”) attempts to intervene in some Arab and Islamic countries, one way or another, to alter educational curricula to become secular and atheistic, aiming to produce generations imbued with secular and atheistic ideas, distancing them from their religious beliefs, history, and Islamic cultures.

This happened in Sudan during the leftist and secularist rule from 2019 to 2022 when Dr. Omar al-Qaray was appointed Director of the National Center for Educational Research and Curriculum. He transferred several curriculum specialists from the center to the Ministry of Education in Khartoum State and formed committees from outside the center to prepare school books without meeting the school book specifications, removing the Quran subject and Quranic ayahs and prophetic hadiths from other school books.

These books were distributed to schools in the states, prompting students and their families to protest in many Sudanese cities, leading to some states burning these atheist books in front of the media. After the leftist government fell, Mahmoud Sir Al-Khatm Al-Houri, may Allah have mercy on him, was appointed Minister of Education. He issued a ministerial decision to cancel all these books prepared during Dr. Al-Qaray's term after the state lost substantial funds printing them. A large quantity of these books remains stored in the Ministry of Education warehouses in Khartoum, bearing witness to that dark period in Sudanese education history.

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