Drop out of Sudanese Refugee Children in Egypt.. Alarm Bell

By: Ali Nooreddin Abdulrahman

Days ago I was relaxing in the evening at a coffee shop in a Cairo suburb when a young Sudanese girl about ten years old approached me trying to sell me a tissue paper box.
I asked her why she is not at school and she said she had to drop out from school because her mother couldn’t afford the fees and that she is trying to help her mother make ends meet.
This is actually one example of many Sudanese children who fled the war zones with their families and who were forced to leave school for similar reasons.
The Sudanese embassy is exerting efforts to reach arrangements with Egyptian education authorities as well as with other civil initiatives in a bid to reduce school fees or even enrol children in schools for free for families in difficult financial situations.
Other notable efforts in this regard include the establishment of 24 learning spaces by the Unicef to help displaced Sudanese children continue learning. According to UNICEF , the new influx of Sudanese refugees depend on direct support from hosting communities. Children, as the most vulnerable group are at risk of school drop-out due to long interruption of their learning process and post-violence-exposure trauma, a combination of factors that could lead to their subjection to exploitation and pose challenges to their physical and mental health.