Education in Sudan is free and compulsory for children aged 6 to 13 years. Primary education up to the 2019/2020 academic year consists of eight years, followed by three years of secondary education. The primary/secondary educational ladder of 6+3+3 years was switched in 1965 and during the Omar al-Bashir presidency to 8+3 and is scheduled, during the 2019 Sudanese transition to democracy, to return to 6+3+3 in the 2020/2021 academic year. The primary language at all levels is Arabic. Starting in the 2020/2021 academic year, English is to be taught starting at kindergarten. Schools are concentrated in urban areas; many in the South and West were damaged or destroyed by years of civil war. In 2001 the World Bank estimated that primary enrolment was 46 percent of eligible pupils and 21 percent of secondary students. Enrolment varies widely, falling below 20 percent in some provinces. Sudan has 36 government universities and 19 private universities, in which instruction is primarily in Arabic.
Education at the secondary and university levels is seriously hampered by the requirement that most males perform military service before completing their education.Sudan country profile. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (December 2004). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. During the 2019 Sudanese transition to democracy, the percentage of the national budget spent on education is planned to increase from the al-Bashir 2018 value of 3 percent to 20 percent.
The literacy rate in 2018 was 60.7% of total population, male: 65.4%, female: 56.1%.
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) finds that Sudan is fulfilling only 42.3% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income. HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Sudan's income level, the nation is achieving 47.0% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education but only 37.6% for secondary education.
History of education in Sudan
Egyptian rule and the Mahdist period Village Koranic schools, or khalawi, were established in the 13th and 14th centuries when the region was undergoing Islamization. In the 1850s, the Turks, who were ruling Sudan through the Khedive of Egypt, decided to open five schools in different towns in northern Sudan. These taught Islamic studies, arithmetic, and the Arabic and Turkish languages. The teachers in the schools were Egyptians. The schools were all destroyed during the Mahdist period between 1881-1898.Joshua A. Fishman &c, Post-imperial English, De Gruyter, 1996, p.340 Thus, prior to 1898, the only educational facilities remaining in the Sudan were the kahlawi in the Muslim north.
The condominium, 1898–1956
Following the establishment of the condominium, the policy was to gradually Sudanize the administration in the Sudan, replacing the Lebanese and Egyptians who had previously held official posts. Lord Cromer in 1903 defined the policy clearly, and also insisted that education policy should concentrate on a basic elementary education for the masses.Gabriel Warburg, The Sudan under Wingate: administration in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1899-1916, p.87-88, p.30. With this in mind, in 1900 the colonial authorities started to create a school system, geared to provide Sudanese officials for the lower grades of the administration, and decided to appoint as many Sudanese as possible to posts not requiring education. They made efforts to reopen as many kuttabs as possible, by giving subsidies to teachers. Instructional workshops were set up at Kassala, Omdurman, and at the Gordon College. But higher class Sudanese refused to send their children to these workshops. So four government primary schools were created. By 1914 the policy was working, and the students from these schools were filling the lower ranks of the administration, including the sons of the three Kalifahs and various Mahdist Amirs.Warburg, The Sudan under Wingate, p.91. For higher education, the Gordon Memorial College was founded by the British in Khartoum in 1920 and the Islamic Omdurman Scientific Institute was founded in 1912.
Major academic libraries include the University of khartoum library... However, this all concerned education for boys. It was in 1907 that education for girls began on the initiative of Sheikh Babikr Bedri at Rufa`a in the Blue Nile province. Eventually this, too, received a government subsidy.
In the 1930s and 1940s there was an expansion in secondary schools in the northern Sudan. In 1938 the decision was taken to provide post-secondary schooling, leading towards the establishment of a university. In 1944 these schools were amalgamated to form a university, offering degrees equivalent to a United Kingdom degree.Tim Niblock, Class and power in the Sudan: the dynamics of Sudanese politics, 1898-1985, p.126
Between 1898 and 1930, the condominium government policy in the South was simply to maintain a basic military control of the area, which otherwise remained undeveloped. The Christian missionary societies were allowed to establish schools in the south, but not in the north. Up to 1922, the development of schools in the south was entirely in the hands of the missionaries. Although the government made clear a wish that the schools should focus on social and educational work rather than conversion, the distinction was in practice meaningless. In 1922 the government began to give some financial assistance to the missionary schools, and substantially increased it from 1926. The objective was to train southerners to be suitable for government employment as clerks, teachers, minor officials etc., and government inspectors were appointed to assist with the task. The first government school opened in 1940. Education was in local languages at primary level, and in English at higher level.Tim Niblock, Class and power in the Sudan: the dynamics of Sudanese politics, 1898-1985, p.151
In 1947 there were 70,457 students at government schools and 14,369 students and non-government schools in the north. There were 19.195 students at schools in the south."Sudan Almanac 1949" Public Relations Office, Sudan Government, Khartoum, Pp. 102 & 103
Independence and after The school system was in good shape at independence, and the new government continued to create new schools and universities.
In 1989 there were five public universities and two private universities in Sudan.David Watson, &c, The Engaged University, International studies in higher education, Taylor and Francis: 2011, p.142
The Bashir government In September 1990 the Bashir government decided to Islamize the schools, backed by the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic teachers and administrators, who were the strongest supporters of the regime.
A Muslim curriculum was devised and imposed on all schools, colleges and universities. It consisted of two parts, the first obligatory for all students and the second optional. All the essential elements of the obligatory course would be drawn from the Quran and the recognized books of the hadith. The optional course of study would permit the student to select certain specializations according to individual aptitudes and inclinations. In addition, membership in the Popular Defense Forces, a paramilitary body allied to the National Islamic Front, became a requirement for university admission.
Within a year the government ordered that Arabic should be used as the language of instruction, replacing English. It also dismissed around seventy faculty members of the University of Khartoum, who were opposed to the new policy. It also ordered that the number of university students should be doubled, and that many new universities should be opened.
These changes were very unwelcome in the South and contributed to turn the insurgency in the south into a real civil war. In consequence educational facilities in the South have largely disappeared.
By 2006 there were 27 public universities, 5 private universities, 9 public technical colleges, and 46 private colleges. The IAU World Higher Education Database 2006 indicates that the number of students rose from 6,080 in 1989 to 38,623 in 1999/2000, an increase of 535%. Total tertiary enrollment in 2000 was 204,114 students, of which 47% were female.Watson &c, The engaged university, 2011, p.142. The World Bank estimated in 2018 that more than 40% of children aged 5–13 had no education.
Hamdok government During the 2019 Sudanese transition to democracy that is scheduled to complete the institutional transitions of the 2018–2019 Sudanese Revolution, the percentage of the national budget allocated to education was planned to increase by a factor of nearly seven, from the al-Bashir era of 3 percent in 2018 to 20 percent.
In 2020, the World Bank granted $61.5 million to improve education in Sudan. Still, about seven million children, roughly one in three, lacked access to quality education or were dropping out. The 2023 conflict in Sudan heavily disrupted education, leaving millions of school-aged children without schooling.
Levels of education Progression through the Sudanese educational system is structured as follows.
First: kindergarten and day-care. It begins in the age of 3-4, consists of 1-2 grades, (depending on the parents).
Second: elementary school. First grade pupils enter at the age of 6-7. During the al-Bashir presidency, this consisted 8 years of schooling, which is to be changed to 6 years starting in the 2020/2021 academic year. Under the system finishing in the 2019/2020 school year, by the eighth grade, a student is 13–14 years old and ready to take the certificate exams and enter high school.
Third: middle school. Starting in the 2020/2021 academic year, this is scheduled to last 3 years.
Third (to 2019/2020 inclusive): upper second school and high school. At this level the school methods add some main academic subjects such as chemistry, biology, physics, geography, etc... there are three grades in this level. The students ages are about 14-15 to 17-18.
Fourth (from 2020/2021): Starting in the 2020/2021 academic year, this is scheduled to last 3 years.
Higher education Sudan in 2005 was home to 27 public universities and at least 46 private universities and colleges, the vast majority of them in the North. These institutions enrolled 447,000 students, 69,000 of whom completed their studies. Comparable figures for 1997–98 were 152,000 students and 26,000 graduates (public institutions only). In 2007–8, more than 50,000 students graduated from public universities. The Ministry of Higher Education reported that in 2009–10, about 513,000 students were attending public and private universities. Before 2005, instruction was solely in Arabic with few exceptions, among which was the University of Juba; teaching in English there recommenced as stipulated in the peace agreement of 2005. Admission was open to students with the highest scores on the Sudan School Certificate examination, which was administered at the conclusion of secondary school. Males usually had to serve in the military before they could enter the university. These requirements, along with the country’s overall poverty, constrained university enrollment.