Alternative education

Not everyone is able to follow a traditional educational path, especially those in fragile states such as Sudan and South Sudan.

We develop alternative education strategies to bring non-traditional learners back into education, and by providing vocational skills training to ensure that everyone leaving school has the ability and opportunity to support themselves and their families.

Conflict, poverty, sickness, forced marriages, pregnancy: all are reasons why students may drop out of school, and all too often there is no way back. Without an education there is no way to earn a living. This leaves young people vulnerable, including to being drawn into armed conflict and exploitation by traffickers.

Low enrolments and dropping-out is a particular risk for girls. Girls can be valued more as a financial resource to be traded through marriage than as a daughter deserving of education. Their education has been neglected for decades with few completing primary and secondary education.

The facts:

Fewer than 3,500 girls completed secondary schooling in South Sudan in 2017 with an enrolment rate of just 5% and high drop-out rates on top of this.

By 2020 this number had risen to over 11,000 enrolled, but Covid-19 school closures have exacerbated the problem and all but wiped-out gains made in recent years.
South Sudan’s history of civil war, poor quality social infrastructure and a chronically weak economy mean that a conventional approach reliant on building schools and classrooms to increase enrolment is simply unrealistic.

Improving vocational skills

We work with national education ministries to develop and implement accelerated education programmes at both primary and secondary level exclusively for over-age learners who are looking for a way to complete their education without disrupting their lives and responsibilities.

We also recognize that the opportunity to develop valuable vocational skills is lacking in both South Sudan and Sudan and provide opportunities for learners to study employment focused and vocational courses including mechanics, nursing, book-keeping, and electrical installation among others.