Aerial bombings carried out by the Sudanese government against the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan have caused the destruction and abandonment of dozens of schools since 2011. 

According to Nuba Reports, there are now less than 100 functioning schools in the Nuba Mountains, compared to 255 schools before 2011.

Manal Badur Abbas, 17 years old, says she stopped studying after bombs destroyed her school building.

“When we studied here, the school used to look good. Now see the way it looks? All the buildings have been destroyed.”

Likewise, Jawahir Yusuf, 20 years old, says, “I was studying at the high school but it shut down because of the airplanes, the war and many other problems.”

Video footage shot by Nuba Reports shows that schools are still subject to bombings, putting pupils’ lives at risk.

Even for those students who flee the Nuba Mountains to Yida refugee camp beyond the southern border of the contested region, education is little better.

Philip Kampal, headmaster of Kush Primary School at the Yida refugee camp, says he has struggled to educate over 2000 pupils with only 17 teachers.

“We were in need of teachers and support, and when we did not get any funds, most of the teachers refused to teach without pay,” he said.