Education is viewed by Sudanese refugees and internally displaced persons as a key prerequisite for social status, prestige, socio-economic survival, and therefore human dignity. Using Sudan as a case study, this article demonstrates that humanitarian aid, which claims to ensure the basic conditions for a life with dignity, often attributes less importance to education than to other sectors such as water, nutrition, and health. Utilising anecdotal evidence from internally displaced persons in conflict-affected regions of Sudan, this article illustrates that the humanitarian aid agenda fails to adequately address what their target population most demands: education.