Policies

Education Assessment and System Enhancement

Context and Issues

According to UIS data, Sudan ranks among the Middle East and North Africa region's countries with the highest number of out-of-school children, standing at approximately 2.5 million in 2017, with over half being girls. The education system faces challenges related to quality, highlighting a pressing demand for adequately trained educators, provision of textbooks, and improved school facilities, among other necessities, to establish a system that ensures a sustainable educational environment. 

Solution 

The teacher management database, finalized in 2016, contains information regarding teachers' credentials, tenure, career advancements, and teaching responsibilities. This dataset played a crucial role in identifying priority areas for in-service and pre-service training and informing policy decisions and strategies at the local, state, and federal levels. In the context of Sudan, another intervention at the national level focused on the National Learning Assessment. In 2015, with the backing of GPE, the Ministry of Education carried out the inaugural nationwide evaluation of early-grade learning. The findings were utilized to guide enhancements and implement a school grants program, which GPE facilitated. Subsequently, a follow-up assessment covering grades 3 and 6 occurred in 2018.

Impact

Based on initial findings from a national learning assessment, it was evident that schools receiving support from GPE  illustrated higher achievements than those without assistance, showcasing the efficacy of the GPE initiative. Additionally, between 2014 and 2017, students enrolled in GPE-supported schools demonstrated an improvement in oral reading fluency, increasing from 12 words per minute to 15.5, while the proportion of non-readers decreased from 47% to 42%

Analysis

These projects focus on the system and learning development in the education sector. However, it would be interesting to see the long-run sustainability of these interventions especially due to the volatility of the political environment.