Amid the devastating armed conflict gripping Sudan, the youngest generation is bearing the heaviest toll, with millions of school-age children entirely cut off from education and pushed into harsh manual labor. Nine-year-old Abkar Mohammed spends his days cleaning and polishing shoes on the streets of Port Sudan, earning a meager income to support his family after fleeing Khartoum following the outbreak of fighting in April 2023. His daily struggle mirrors a nationwide crisis affecting nearly half of the country's school-aged population.

According to UNICEF, approximately eight million of Sudan’s 17 million school-age children are out of school, with regions like Darfur seeing up to 80 percent of schools remain closed. Save the Children estimates that Sudanese students have missed an average of 484 days of classroom learning due to prolonged facility closures, active combat, and relentless displacement. UNICEF advocacy head Eva Hinds noted that nearly half of all school buildings in the country are no longer functional due to war-related damage, leaving displaced children entirely isolated from structured learning environments.

Officials and child protection advocates warn that the collapse of the educational system leaves minors severely vulnerable to exploitation, child labor, early marriage, and recruitment by armed groups. Sulaima Ishag, head of the Government Advisory Council for Women and Children, stated that girls face particularly acute risks, including adolescent pregnancy and domestic subjugation, which permanently derail their futures. Psychologists have also reported widespread trauma, chronic anxiety, and behavioral shifts among children enduring prolonged displacement and violence.

The economic devastation has reportedly set Sudan back by decades, plunging 60 percent of the population into poverty and forcing impoverished parents to rely on their children for survival income. Teenagers like 16-year-old Mahmoud al-Ghali, who has spent years selling snacks on the streets instead of studying, represent a generation whose educational aspirations have been systematically dismantled. Observers caution that failing to restore educational infrastructure will permanently cripple Sudan's prospects for future recovery, stability, and peace.

Source: www.aljazeera.com