Enrollment in basic education in the Republic of the Sudan has risen continuously since 2005. However, service delivery in basic schools and student learning outcomes are generally weak The papers included in this book use survey data to describe how basic schools function in four states of the Republic of the Sudan. The main objective is to provide representative data on basic school resources and student learning levels to allow targeting of resources to priority areas and increase the efficiency of resource use in order to promote student learning. The source of data is the second Basic Education Service Delivery Survey (SDS2) that covered 253 schools in the 2010-11 academic year across the states of Blue Nile, North Darfur, Red Sea and South Kordofan in Sudan. Basic education is the fundamental cycle of education in Sudan, combining primary and lower secondary education into one eight-year cycle. Enrollments in basic schools have surged in recent years, from 3.3 million students in 2000-01 to 4.9 million in 2008-09, with particularly rapid enrollment growth in post-conflict states, including the four states examined in this paper. This paper complements the education sector status report published in 2012.5. It contributes to the knowledge of basic education in the four states by providing a systematic account of service delivery and student achievement in basic schools. These two reports, along with other analytical work, are being used to inform the preparation of a new national education sector plan for 2012-16. Key contributions of this paper include the measurement of learning outcomes, comparisons between urban and rural schools, information on the role of the education councils in school financing and specific data on schools for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Darfur.