A Cry for Urgent Rescue; Saving Technical and Vocational Education in Sudan
By Eng. Abdelrahman Mohamed Zain
A Nation’s Workforce at a Crossroads.
Following the liberation of Khartoum and the beginning of reconstruction, Sudan is witnessing an unprecedented surge in demand for vocational training. Citizens are eager to acquire trades, crafts, and technical skills to rebuild homes, repair infrastructure, and restore livelihoods—often with the simplest of tools.
In the past, before the war, the gap in skills was largely filled by foreign workers from neighboring countries. With the outbreak of conflict, however, these workers returned home, leaving Sudan’s labor market painfully exposed. The absence of local skilled professionals has revealed the fragility of the nation’s workforce.
This crisis is rooted in decades of systemic neglect and deliberate mismanagement of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Since April 1985, following the fall of President Jaafar Nimeiri, what was presented as reform was, in reality, a calculated dismantling of Sudan’s vocational education system. Promises were made, budgets allocated, but the outcomes were hollow.
Government institutions became stagnant, bureaucratic shells, producing little of real value for the labor market.
The Role of the Private Sector
When the private sector was allowed to participate in vocational training, the results spoke volumes. Private training centers produced graduates with real skills who were quickly absorbed into the workforce, often outperforming their peers from government institutions.
While public vocational schools and colleges became mere signboards with no real substance, private initiatives delivered practical results. Sadly, government-run technical colleges continued to graduate students holding certificates of little worth.documents often less valuable than the paper they were printed on. Weak curricula, sometimes borrowed from neighboring countries, or the absence of curricula altogether, deepened the collapse.
Adding to this was the stigma surrounding vocational education. Admission into vocational and industrial schools was frequently treated as a last resort for students who failed in the academic track, branded with the unfair label of “educational dropouts.” This harmful perception stripped vocational training of dignity and deterred many talented youth from pursuing it.
The British Contribution:
A Lost Opportunity
One of the most significant, yet neglected, chapters in Sudan’s vocational history is its connection with City & Guilds of London Institute,a world-renowned body that has shaped technical Vocational education globally since the British army first introduced it to Sudan.
For decades, City & Guilds qualifications offered Sudanese students internationally recognized training and certification in dozens of trades. These programs were concrete, skill-based, and outcome-oriented. However, the first democratic government after Nimeiri, led by Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, severed Sudan’s formal ties with City & Guilds, and successive governments continued to refuse official recognition of these qualifications.
Despite this rejection, City & Guilds never left Sudan. Instead, the private sector took ownership. By 2012, Sudan’s City & Guilds-accredited centers had graduated over 8,500 young men and women with globally recognized qualifications across more than 22 critical trades. These qualifications were embraced by employers in Sudan’s private sector and beyond. Many graduates started their own workshops and small businesses, while others used their certificates as passports to employment opportunities in the Gulf, Europe, and Africa, thanks to the international credibility of the City & Guilds seal.
Equally important, City & Guilds programs engaged with marginalized groups, including the deaf, autistic children, and other persons with disabilities, through partnerships with schools such as Al-Amal Institute and the Sudan Autism Society. These initiatives were widely covered in Sudanese media, including Sudan Vision Currently the CITIZEN) newspapers, highlighting their transformative impact.
Tragically, after the recent war, the last accredited City & Guilds center in Sudan was looted and destroyed. What could have continued as a beacon of skills development for the nation now lies silent, awaiting revival. Yet the demand for such qualifications has never been higher.
The Final Collapse of TVET
By the 1990s, industrial, agricultural, and women’s technical education had been dismantled. Prestigious institutions such as the Institutes of Technology (Khartoum Polytechnic), Agricultural Colleges, Water and Earth Sciences, and Mechanical Engineering in Atbara,once pillars of excellence whose graduates served Sudan and the Gulf,were left to decay.
The so-called TVET Capacity Project, overseen by UNESCO in Khartoum, attempted to unify Sudan’s fragmented system into one coherent structure, similar to models in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. It had promise but collapsed under bureaucratic resistance and lack of political will, leaving Sudan’s vocational sector in ruins.
A Call to the Government of Hope
Today, Sudan’s technical and vocational education system is little more than a hollow shell. Infrastructure has collapsed, institutions stand empty, and curricula are broken. But one thing remains: the Sudanese people themselves.
With resilience and determination, citizens have borne the weight of war, adapting creatively and showing the world their extraordinary capacity to endure and rebuild.
It is to this spirit that I now appeal. On behalf of private vocational training centers, which, with their own limited resources, rehabilitated facilities in record time after the war, I call upon the Government of Hope, led by Dr. Kamel Idris and the Sovereignty Council under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to take urgent action;
1. Revive the TVET Capacity Project as a framework for national reform.
2. Officially recognize international qualifications such as City & Guilds and integrate them into Sudan’s system.
3. Provide emergency solutions for vocational students who remain without exams or curricula, unlike their peers in academic schools.
4. Empower the private sector as a true partner in building Sudan’s skilled workforce.
5. Develop a national vocational strategy rooted in dignity, relevance, and global standards.
Conclusion;
Sudan stands at a defining moment. Without immediate intervention, the country risks losing an entire generation of skilled workers, leaving its reconstruction dreams paralyzed. But with decisive action, clear policy, and genuine partnership, Sudan can not only rebuild its infrastructure but also restore pride and dignity to its workforce.
This is more than an education issue. It is a national survival issue.
Let us rescue vocational education.
so Sudan’s sons and daughters may build a future of skill, dignity, and hope.
Eng. Abdelrahman Mohamed Zain Abdeldafie (Magdy)
Professional Activist in Occupational Health and Safety
Member, Institution of Environmental Engineers (SEE-UK)
Member, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE, USA)
zainrac@gmail.com