Improving access to education for 600,000 out of school children in Sudan

Sudan has both the largest number and the highest rate of out-of-school children in the Middle East and North Africa region. Over 3 million children aged 5 to 13 years are out-of-school – more than half of them are girls. Having sufficient classroom space, trained teachers, separate toilets for boys and girls, safe water, protection against gender-based violence and adequate levels of funding are among the most pressing challenges to improve the quality of education in Sudan.

UNICEF’s Education Programme, with the support of Qatar’s Education Above All/Educate a Child Program,  is working to reduce the number of out of school children through different interventions which adhere to the social context of Sudan and improve access to education for 600,000 out of school children in Sudan. One such intervention is the Alternative Learning Programme (ALP) which targets  children aged 7 to 13 years of age and links them to formal school. 
 

In Dar Es Sala, the ALP programme targeted more than 2,000 children between the ages of seven to nine years old with UNICEF supported educational  and recreational supplies, life skills training and the enhancement of a safer more inclusive learning environment through the rehabilitation and construction of classrooms and gender sensitive latrines. 

With the start of this new academic year, 300 out of school children (183 girls, 118 boys) who were a part of the previous programme, have successfully enrolled back into formal schools from their Alternative learning programme centers. UNICEF Alternative learning programme (ALP) aims is to provide children all over Sudan another opportunity to access quality education.