Abstract

This study examined urban sprawl and its impact on the efficiency of public education services in Kosti, White Nile State, during the period 1950-2025. The study aimed to highlight the importance of scientifically based planning in the distribution of public education services, analyze and evaluate the efficiency of these services in light of urban sprawl, and identify areas deprived of public education services. The study employed several methodologies, including the historical approach, the descriptive-analytical approach, and the quantitative statistical approach. Multiple data collection methods were used, including primary sources such as observation, interviews, and questionnaires, and secondary sources such as books, dissertations, and reports. The study reached several conclusions, most importantly that the study area witnessed urban expansion, with the number of squares increasing from 1 square to 61 squares. This expansion was not accompanied by the construction of educational institutions in the areas of urban expansion, resulting in pressure on public education services, which already suffer from a shortage of schools, poor services, and deteriorating infrastructure, in addition to an unequal distribution among the city's neighborhoods. The study showed that public education services are concentrated in the city center and decrease with distance from the center, resulting in hardship for residents of outlying neighborhoods in accessing them, as primary school students travel more than (800) meters and secondary school students more than 1600 meters. The study also indicated that public education services are not commensurate with the scale of urban expansion that the city is witnessing, as the number of primary schools reached (76) schools and the number of secondary schools reached (29) schools, corresponding to (78,785) people in the (5-14) age group and (30,042) people in the age group. (15-19) years old. The study indicated that education services are under severe pressure, with the number of students in the school reaching (873) students, averaging (109) per class. The study presented several recommendations, most importantly: paying attention to studying urban expansion trends in the study area to determine the population's needs for social services in general and public education services in particular; developing these services in villages neighboring the study area to stem migration and alleviate pressure on it; increasing government spending on educational services; expediting the construction of public and private schools in areas of urban expansion to facilitate access to these services for residents of those areas; and establishing a mechanism to determine school locations in line with population needs and their concentration, in addition to urban expansion trends.