Education, training and skill development policies in Sudan: Macro-micro overview
Samia S. O. M. Nour
#2011-032
This paper discusses the education, training and skill development
policies in Sudan using a combination of new secondary and primary data.
A novel element in our paper is that we use new primary macro and micro
(firm) surveys data to discuss and compare the macro and micro
perspectives concerning policies implemented to improve skill upgrading
through enhancing the educational system, provision of training and
transfer of knowledge. Different from the Sudanese literature, an
interesting element in our analysis is that we discuss both the supply
and demand sides of educational policies and we provide a more
comprehensive analysis by explaining the low commitment to the
standardised international adequacy, equity and efficiency criterion
related to the supply and demand sides of education and training
policies in Sudan. We provide a new contribution and fill important gap
in the Sudanese literature by explaining that the regional disparity in
the demand for education (share in enrolment in education) is most
probably due to economic reasons (per capita income and poverty rate),
demographic reasons (share in total population) and other reasons
(degree of urbanization) in Sudan. We find that the increase in the
incidence of high poverty rate and low per capita income seem to be the
most important factor limiting the demand for education, notably, the
demand for primary education, especially for females in Sudan. The major
policy implication from our findings is that poverty eradication is key
for the achievement of universal access to primary education and gender
equality and therefore, fulfillment of the second and third United
Nations Millennium Development Goals in Sudan by 2015. We recommend
further efforts to be made to improve quality, increase firm commitment
to the standardised international adequacy, equity and efficiency
criterion in the provision of education and training, increase
incentives at tertiary and technical education, enhance consistency of
education, training and skill development policies and encourage
collaboration between public and private sectors.
Keywords: Education, training, supply, demand, adequacy, efficiency,
equity, skill development, Sudan
JEL classification: H52,I20, I21, I24, I28, M53, O15