Internationally, there is growing awareness that the target of Education for All by 2015 will not be met unless efforts are made to improve access for marginalised, hard-to-reach children. These include those from nomadic and pastoralist groups. What are the challenges of providing access to good quality education for these young people in North Sudan?

It is estimated that worldwide, 15 to 25 million nomadic and pastoralist children may be out of school. Sudan has about two million pastoralists and their seasonal movement differs from group to group, ranging from nomads with no fixed base to people moving around permanent settlements. Pastoralist people in North Sudan have some of the lowest school enrolment and completion rates in the country. In the Darfur region, only 24 to 25 percent of these children are enrolled, with girls’ enrolment much lower than boys’.

To address poor school participation rates, in 1999 the government launched a strategy for nomadic education and set up 265 mobile multigrade schools offering four years of basic education. The state pays the salary of one teacher per school on a four-year contract. These teachers receive three months’ training in the formal curriculum, primary health care and animal health. The nomadic communities top up their salaries as an added incentive, some of them with support from Oxfam GB.

This study by Oxfam GB, published as a chapter in a book on Education for All and multigrade teaching, looks at the challenges of providing good quality basic education for pastoralist groups in Western Sudan and the contribution made by multigrade mobile schools, using two schools as case studies. The research and writing was done before the conflict escalated in Darfur. The schools mentioned are now sadly not operating at all.

The research found that:

• The multigrade mobile schooling model has much to offer, but because it has been applied in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ form in Darfur, it cannot cater for the diversity of pastoralist lifestyles.
• Many of the 265 schools had closed due to a lack of funding and support. In North Darfur, only 15 schools were operating in 2003 and only 10 percent of 24,000 children had access.
• The rigid national curriculum failed to reflect the environment and knowledge of pastoralist children.
• High drop-out rates reflect the lack of a clear policy framework for pastoralist education and an inflexible method of schooling.
• Low government funding places a burden on parents to augment teachers’ salaries and fund learning materials.
• Teachers receive no pedagogical support and are not encouraged to teach in ways suited to a multigrade situation.

If Sudan is to honour its commitment to education for all, and if Sudanese children are to achieve their right to education, a huge increase in resources and drastic change are needed. The study recommends that:

• Policymakers in governments and partner non-governmental organisations will need to establish the best possible conditions for mobile schooling to function effectively and ensure that multigrade teaching and learning is good quality.
• A more flexible model for mobile schools is needed to cater for a large school population with changing patterns of mobility and settlement.
• The government will need to tackle various problems experienced by these schools, such as rising demand for enrolment places, a lack of adequate teaching materials, large classes and a lack of schooling opportunities beyond the fourth grade.

Source(s):
‘EFA for Pastoralists in North Sudan: A Mobile Multigrade Model of Schooling’, by Sheila Aikman and Hanan El Haj, in ‘Education for All and Multigrade Teaching: Challenges and Opportunities’, pages 193-211, Springer: Dordrecht, edited by Angela Little, 2006 Full document.

Funded by: OxfamGB

id21 Research Highlight: 24 March 2008

Further Information:
Sheila Aikman

Contact the contributor: sheila.aikman@uea.ac.uk

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'Tackling illiteracy in rural areas'

'Differences in diversification for Maasai pastoralists'