Basic education

Basic education

Key results

Key results

 

Basic education

© UNICEF Sudan/Georgina Cranston

A boy sits outside his classroom in Blue Nile State, carrying a UNICEF-provided school bag

Faced by low enrolment rates, especially amongst girls, and high levels of illiteracy UNICEF in Sudan is taking on the challenge of encouraging more children into the classrooms, while ensuring that the learning environment and quality of teaching improves levels of retention and completion.

By the year 2012, UNICEF in Sudan will have supported access to, and quality of, education by achieving key results that include:

• Enabling 5.2 million children and young people to access quality basic education and other forms of learning.
• Assisting 250,000 nomadic children to move from primary to secondary education.
• Ensuring 1 million children currently out of school have access to alternative forms of education.

Key strategies to achieve these results include:

Expanding access to education

UNICEF supports school construction, provision of school supplies, the promotion of "Alternative Learning Approaches" including vocational training, adult education and literacy programmes, teacher training and social mobilization to promote the value of education among Sudanese communities.

Special attention is being paid to groups such as nomadic children, amongst which gross enrolment rates are especially low.

Enhancing quality of education

UNICEF supports child-friendly school environments, including the provision of water and sanitation facilities. To make schools more conducive to learning, there is a strong focus on improved teaching and learning skills - including curriculum reform that encompasses issues such as HIV and AIDS awareness, life skills, literacy and numeracy, and psychosocial development - built around a framework of child-centred teaching.

Policy, systems and capacity development

In addition to these school-focused activities, UNICEF is also supporting the development of institutional capacity at government level to ensure that improvements are sustainable. This includes the establishment of Education Management Information Systems to help planners and administrators, support to improved teacher training courses and support for education authorities to better manage financial and human resources.