KHARTOUM – United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed warned that Sudan’s war has deprived millions of children of education, saying the conflict is putting an entire generation at risk and threatening the country’s future.
Speaking during an Arria-formula meeting of the UN Security Council, Amina Mohammed said at least 8 million school-age children remain out of school as a result of the conflict. She added that the crisis has had a particularly severe impact on displaced children, including those who have fled to neighboring countries.
The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began in April 2023, has severely disrupted Sudan’s education system, forcing thousands of schools to close and leaving millions of children without regular access to learning.
Mohammed said the United Nations has documented more than 67 attacks on schools since 2024, in addition to over 154 reported cases of schools being used for military purposes. She said such incidents have disrupted education and deprived children of safe learning environments.
She noted that the United Nations and its partners have helped more than one million Sudanese children return to some form of education but stressed that the response remains far from sufficient given the scale of the crisis.
The UN has repeatedly warned that Sudan is facing one of the world’s largest education emergencies, with prolonged displacement, insecurity and damage to civilian infrastructure continuing to undermine children’s access to schooling across much of the country.
Mohammed called for an immediate end to the war, warning that continued fighting could condemn Sudan to lose another generation of children. She urged the parties to end hostilities and pull the country back from what she described as the “brink of an abyss” threatening the future of Sudan’s children and its education system.
