this respect at least four boarding schools are planned for each State in Northern

Sudan. Along the same lines and also in recognition of local conditions, the
programmes call for the provision of one nutritious meal each day for some ¾
million primary school students.

119. To increase access and quality of education will require increased numbers
of high quality teachers. This in turn will require an increase numbers and
enhanced quality of teacher training institutes and other associated facilities.
Incentives urgent to halt and reverse the brain drain and retain the good teachers
in the system. Moreover, incentives are needed to make it attractive for teachers
to work in rural areas. These incentives could include additional financial
compensation and assistance for housing and transport. Without these
incentives, emphasis on spreading primary education and reducing the distance
to school in neglected rural communities would not materialize.

120. The stagnant enrolment in technical secondary schools may indicate a

strong preference for academic secondary schools. It raises questions about
whether the skills acquired from this subsector are preparing students
adequately for higher technical education or providing them the skills that
match the labor market requirements. A reform this subsector to provide it with
the appropriate focus and structure to meet its goals and in particular to
determine whether these schools are secondary schools with provision to
acquire technical skills, or vocational training centers that impart professional
technical skills t meet the demand of the industrial sector for skilled labor.

Strategy and Priorities for Tertiary Education

121. Although tertiary education targets are not included in the MDGs, high
quality and relevant tertiary education is crucial for shared growth and sustained
poverty reduction strategy. From 1990s, tertiary education has rapidly expanded
in Sudan with the number of universities going from 4 in 1990 to currently 30
public and 6 private universities, and 48 specialized degree granting colleges. In
1990, student intake was 6000 per annum; this risen to an annual intake of
160,000 with a student population exceeding 500,000, equivalent to an
enrolment rate of 10 percent of the relevant population. Over half the students
are females. Expansion has not been accompanied by matching financial
resources and the quality of tertiary education has been deteriorating.

122. The main challenge facing the tertiary education sector is to improve the
quality of education. The National Council of Higher Education in the Ministry
of Higher Education and Research, which is responsible for setting policies and
regulating the system of tertiary education, has set up a commission for quality
assurance. This will monitor and evaluate quality of education and set standards.
The Council has promoted the establishment of internal quality monitoring and
evaluation units in some universities and a pilot program to apply the standards
it developed before these standards are generalized. Another challenge to the
tertiary education is to have a definitive policy towards technical education that
recognizes the importance for technical knowledge and skills for growth and
diversification and makes technical education an attractive option for students.
Furthermore, as public universities are poorly funded by the federal and state
governments and the universities are increasingly relying on cost-sharing with
students for additional resources. While the cost-sharing schemes take family
income into account, there is a risk that the costs could be excluding poor
people from tertiary education.