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Amina Mohammed was speaking to Security Council members during an informal meeting on\u00a0safeguarding\u00a0education in Sudan,\u00a0organised\u00a0under a framework known as the Arria formula.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong everything this war is taking, one of the most significant is the future of Sudan depriving the education of its children<\/strong>,\u201d she\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n At\u00a0least eight million school-aged children\u00a0remain\u00a0outside the classroom,\u00a0she said,\u00a0\u201cwith a disproportionate impact on millions of displaced children,\u201d especially those who have fled to other countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n In\u00a0battle-scarred\u00a0Darfur alone,\u00a0nearly three\u00a0quarters of schools have been damaged,\u00a0destroyed\u00a0or otherwise\u00a0rendered\u00a0non-functional since fighting\u00a0erupted in\u00a0April 2023.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFive\u00a0children in\u00a0every six are out of school, and parents will tell you they would rather keep their children at home than send them to a classroom<\/strong>, because home for them is the only place left where they can keep them safe,\u201d she said.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n She noted that since 2024, the UN has verified more than 67 attacks on schools across Sudan, while over 154 instances of military use of schools have been reported, though the true scale is undoubtedly greater.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ms. Mohammed\u00a0described\u00a0attacks against schools as \u201cfrontal assaults on children\u2019s safety and their dignity\u201d because they lose protective spaces, opportunities for social development alongside peers,\u00a0and\u00a0access to essential services such as school feeding\u00a0programmes, healthcare, and mental health support.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the same time, more than half of all teachers\u00a0in Sudan\u00a0have gone unpaid, yet many continue teaching \u201cagainst all odds,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI could read numbers to you for the whole of my five minutes and still fall short of what is being done to Sudan’s children, especially its girls<\/strong>,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0said Ms. Mohammed.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSudan has already lost a generation to its earlier wars, and it is losing another one now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Deputy Secretary-General said that this year, the\u00a0UN\u00a0and partners have brought more than a million Sudanese children back into some form of learning, but it is simply not enough.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a war that men started,\u201d she continued. \u201cBut\u00a0it is being paid for on the backs of women, and on the backs of children who had no say in any of it but suffer most<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She said it is time to silence the guns\u00a0and to pull Sudan back from the brink of losing another generation of its children.\u00a0<\/p>\n She called for\u00a0Security Council\u00a0members to\u00a0do their utmost to bring the\u00a0conflict to an end,\u202fcreate the conditions for peace, and the enabling environment\u00a0to get Sudan\u2019s children back\u00a0to learning.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI urge you to do everything within your power to do so, for the young Sudanese living through this war today, and for future generations who will inherit whatever is left of their country.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n Ms. Mohammed upheld education\u00a0as being\u00a0both lifesaving and life-changing\u00a0because\u00a0it protects children today and lays the foundations for peace,\u00a0recovery\u00a0and stability tomorrow.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSudan\u2019s children have waited\u00a01,210\u00a0days\u00a0for the war to end,\u201d she said. \u201cThey should not have to wait any longer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\nEducation under fire<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
\n UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed addresses the Security Council Arria-Formula meeting on education in Sudan.<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA \u2018frontal assault\u2019 on child safety and dignity<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Paying the price<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Children cannot wait<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n