UNICEF Fact Sheet: Education within COVID-19
Over 8.1 million students across Sudan have been hit hard with the closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
Over 8.1 million students across Sudan have been hit hard with the closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sudan has both the largest number and the highest rate of out-of-school children in the Middle East and North Africa region. Up to 3.6 million children aged 5 to 13 years are out-of-school – more than half are girls.
In Sudan, literacy rates also remain low, particularly among young women: overall, some 45.2 percent of girls and women aged 15-24 are illiterate.
Less than half of grade 3 students who can read comprehend what they read. In numeracy, less than half (46 percent) of the children can correctly solve level one addition and only 40 percent can solve level one subtraction.
As per the 2018-2019 Ministry of Education conducted National WASH in School Assessment, only 45.5% of the schools have access to safe water, while access to improved sanitation is 50.8%. Handwashing practice is about 56.5%, while in 57.1% of the schools there is no soap for proper hand washing. There are wide variations in access between states and between urban and rural areas – with grave implications on public health risks.
