Across the generations - Dubai Cares helps to build the foundations of education in rural Sudan.
Al-Faw, Gedaref, June 2009. On approaching the nomadic school deep in rural Sudan’s Gedaref state, a group of women and young girls can be seen collecting stones along a road running in front of the school. Later, during discussions with the school teachers, it is explained that they are helping collect gravel to construct the foundations of a new classroom – and by connection, an education foundation for a new generation. The level of community support for education of their children, especially among the elderly, is phenomenal in this rural settlement of 1,500 inhabitants in Gedaref state in eastern Sudan. This is Wad-al-Mada School, located in Al-Faw locality, managed by the community and the State Ministry of Education and supported by UNICEF and Dubai Cares. Gedarif state is also known as the food basket of Sudan, producing large quantities of cereal crops such as millet and sorghum. The school – consisting of three classrooms and a tented office for teachers – is surrounded by large swathes of unused land and dry mountains to the east. Classrooms in the schools are made out of locally available materials such as grass, bamboos, tyre threads and strings. Nomadic communities in Sudan Nearly 3 million people have been identified as nomads in Sudan – more than 8 per cent of the population – and their movement spans over one-third of the country. Among the Sudanese people, nomadic communities have traditionally resisted the notion of sending children, especially girls, to school.Among the Sudanese people, nomadic communities have traditionally resisted the notion of sending children, especially girls, to school. Education status within these communities is very poor with extremely low enrolment rates, especially among girls. Currently the Gross Enrolment Rate for nomadic children is merely 33 per cent implying that a large number of nomadic children remain out of school. Here in Gedaref state, there are some 30,000 school-aged nomadic children – but only 8,200 attend classes. Of these, just 3,200 are girls. Education has not traditionally been considered as a priority area for investment either by local government or the nomadic communities. Over the last few years, however, community attitudes toward education have radically changed, with parents contributing up to 90 per cent of the costs associated with education of their children. In Wad-al-Mada School, parents contribute 5 Sudanese pounds (roughly US$ 2.50) per child, every month, to meet the running costs of the school – which includes stipends for volunteer teachers, accommodation for female teachers and purchase of textbooks. Changing patterns of nomadic life Traditional patterns of nomadic life are also changing with more and more nomadic families preferring to settle for a longer period in order to find relatively easy access to basic social services such as education, water and health in settled areas. Historically nomads would move every three months, making it difficult to organize learning opportunities for their children in a formal school setting. The State Ministry of Education and UNICEF have been supporting mobile schools, along with a mobile teacher, for nomadic families who still move long distances. Increasingly, nomadic groups are becoming partially settled with more stable houses, and few – mainly male – family members moving during the grazing season between July and October. During this time of the year, nomads will leave their children, women and the elderly to cultivate land around their settlements.
Establishing routine education for nomadic children In 2005, the local education directorate in Al-Faw locality – backed by UNICEF – started – started a small school to assist nomadic children access education. The school provided a nucleus around which a nomadic settlement was gradually established. Initially the school was able to cater to 90 students in Grade One, constrained by lack of funds and qualified government teachers. Since then, the school has grown and become more sustainable, providing education to pupils up to Grade Five. Currently 140 students, including 58 girls and children from adjoining nomadic settlements, attend the school. Of these, 26 have just completed their fourth year of education and are entering Grade 5 – considered as a benchmark for a complete primary education. UNICEF has provided teaching and learning materials, desk and benches to the school and is currently supporting training of teachers on multi-grade teaching methods aimed at creating an improved child friendly environment in the school. Since 2008, Dubai Cares has added its support to these initiatives. Community elders play a key role There is a noticeable passion and sense of happiness amongst the community elders on the subject of education. These most venerated members of the community show a keen awareness and interest in the education of their grandchildren and future generations. Their optimism and vision of a better future for their community is striking. “I come to this school almost every day to encourage my children and to talk to their teachers about the progress of my children in their studies”, says Idris Al-Raly Al-Mada, aged 70 and one the local community elders. Clad in a traditional white Sudanese robe – or “jalabia” – he talks in his local dialect of his thirteen grand children studying at the school, six of them girls. “I want to see my grand daughter become a civil judge. I want to see them speaking English fluently and to be seen on the television. I will do whatever it takes to make sure my children get higher education.” Another local elder and village chief, sixty-year old Mohamed Ibrahim Hammid, is equally enthusiastic. “We have learnt from our life experiences that our community will never make any progress unless we educate our children. We need well educated children who can safeguard our community interests in the future and influence public decisions that affect us all”. The local community has spent some 1,700 Sudanese pounds (about US$ 850) this year alone to rehabilitate temporary classroom structures at the school. Additional funds from Dubai Cares are helping to build a permanent brick classroom in this school and in many other schoolsAdditional funds from Dubai Cares are helping to build a permanent brick classroom in this school and in many other schools across the Gedaref state. “Once we have this permanent classroom ready, it will be very symbolic in encouraging those who do not send their children to the school because of poor structures”, says the head of the school’s parent teachers’ council. “We are going to recruit a full-time guard to ensure safety of learning materials and property during the vacation period, ”he says, as if to emphasise the intrinsic value now being placed on education in the community . Expanding education opportunities in the future UNICEF and its government counterparts are now finalizing a comprehensive strategy and a three-year action plan to expand education opportunities for children in nomadic communities, alongside improving the quality of education for children who are already attending schools. With a generous contribution from Dubai Cares, UNICEF has already started to implement a number of activities on the ground – these include construction of additional classrooms, training of teachers and provision of essential school supplies. Nomadic communities are seeking support from the government and its partners to extend schooling up to Grade Eight so that students can move on to secondary and other higher education. The importance of these initiatives, and of those who support them, is underlined by a young nomadic girl named Buthanya Ali. Aged 16, she speaks eagerly in English about her future ambitions. “Education has made me understand my community and their needs in a better way,” she explains. “I would like to become a doctor since there is no health facility near my village. My father is very supportive and he is willing to pay any cost for my higher education”. This cross-generational determination to strengthen education is at the very heart of Sudan’s renewed investment in education.
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