Challenges and opportunities to nomadic education: the Sudanese / Eritreans experience

This paper examines the education opportunities made available for nomadic people (pastoralists) in eastern Sudan and Western Eritrea. It examines the difficulties faced by the pastoralists of this region and suggests that this has led to marginalisation of this cultural group.

The paper finds that:

• indigenous technical knowledge has been undermined.
• a key to solving many of the current difficulties is thought to be education
• too many assumptions were held by policy makers and those with influence on educational provision to make a real impact. The views expressed by the pastoralists were largely ignored and thought to be ill considered
• with a greater involvement in the decision making process the paper argues many of the misconceptions could be transformed and an education system developed that is innovative, flexible and responsive to the needs and the development of the pastoralists and the land that they support and live from