What happens when pupils carry a live grenade they've found on their way to school into the classroom? Or when their classroom is on the other side of a minefield?

These aren't the sort of lessons usually taught in schools. But in northern Sudan, where life for school children is anything but normal, they are ones that MAG's teams have found themselves having to teach.

After the end of the civil conflict that raged in the area from 1997 to 2006, many people dumped arms close to what they believed to be military camps in the hope they would be discovered and disposed of.

In Kassala, close to the border with Eritrea, more people have been killed orinjured by landmines and UXO than any other state in northern Sudan.Many areas are therefore highly contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Here, 48 Dangerous Areas, six minefields and 38 Suspected Hazardous Areas contaminate more than 20,000,000 square metres of land.

These remnants of conflict threaten the lives and limbs of residents and prevent development agencies from accessing many areas.

Children are at particular risk, due to their curiosity and attraction to interesting looking objects, such as grenades. Of the 446 casualties recorded in Kassala since records began, about 90 were under the age of 18.

The 32 incidents in 2010 - 24 injuries and eight deaths - was the highest number recorded in eight years, highlighting the continuing need for MAG's lifesaving clearance operations and Risk Education sessions.

Below are three examples of how MAG works with communities in northern Sudan to reduce the threat of death and injury to the most at-risk people:

School grenade emergency

MAG quickly and safely removed the grenade from the classroom and carried out a controlled demolition in a safe area.Fortunately, the next thing the school did was call MAG. On receiving the call at MAG's operations base in Kassala a mobile team was immediately sent to the school, instructing the teacher to take all the children to a safe area and await the arrival of the specialist ordnance disposal team.

Community Liaison Officers then delivered an emergency Mine Risk Education session to 155 students and six teachers. They returned the following day to speak to all 350 students during their morning assembly, informing them of how to identify landmines and UXO, the dangers they pose and what to do if they are found.

MAG also provided the school with posters and leaflets containing safety messages and pictures of hazards, for the benefit of future as well as current pupils.

"We are very happy that MAG has provided this vital work," said headmaster Ustaz Alaaeldin. "Our students can now come to school every day using safe behaviours that reduce the risk of them coming to harm. We ask that MAG continue their work in our community and help remove the dangers of landmines and UXO."

Landmines and UXO threat to schoolchildren reduced

• More than 120 landmines removed from minefields surrounding a primary school in Demen.
• 320 children and seven teachers receive Risk Education.

Though the conflict that reduced Demen Basic Primary School to rubble in 1996 is over, many of the 320 pupils who attend the rebuilt premises were left with a new concern - getting to school safely.  "My village is only three kilometres from Demen," 11-year-old Adam Omer Adam told MAG, "but due to the presence of ERW [Explosive Remnants of War] my father needed to stay with me on the road to find a lorry to take me to school. When there was no lorry I could not go to school."

In late-2010, MAG excavated and destroyed 100 anti-personnel and 23 anti-tank mines within one kilometre of the school.Contamination caused additional problems in the area, reducing traffic on the important trade route with Eritrea that Demen lies on. A survey carried out by MAG showed that 93 per cent of the village's 14,800 residents thought this had a direct negative impact on the economy of the area.

Community Liaison teams delivered Risk Education to students and teachers. The children were shown pictures of landmines and UXO commonly found in the area and were given a very simple yet life-saving message - ‘Do not touch them, tell your parents or teachers if you see them'.

Role-play activities were used to highlight the risks of playing with mines and UXO, encouraging the children to ask advice about safe areas, to walk along well-used paths and to stay away from hazard markings.

The effects are life-changing. Nine-year-old Adam Hamid Salih explains: "My village is two kilometres west of Demen, near to the minefield. Before MAG came here I struggled to reach the school - my father needed to come with us every Saturday and leave us in Demen village to live with my uncle due to danger of landmines and UXO.

"But now, after MAG cleared the areas and have provided us with Mine Risk Education, we are aware of the dangers and able to come to school daily."

Ustaz Mahmoud, a teacher at the school, said: "Now the teachers and students are able to recognise the clues and warning signs and avoid dangerous behaviours. We must all continue to do everything we can to keep them safe"

Airdropped bomb removed from school

• Explosive Ordnance Disposal spot tasks carried out around a primary school in Tamikit. 
• Aircraft bomb found in school grounds.

MAG was asked by the United Nations Mine Action Office in February to visit the Telkuk area of Kassala state where a large amount of UXO had been found close to the town of Tamikit Galai.

When teams arrived at the local primary school, whose 84 pupils from three surrounding villages are aged between seven and 12, the headmaster led them to the edge of the grounds and pointed out a 50kg airdropped bomb sticking out of the sand.

Also found were two mortars, one Rocket Propelled Grenade, one hand grenade and a tank round, all of which had probably been handled and moved closer to the village by community members.Two more 50kg airdropped bombs were discovered within one kilometre of the school, one of which had been carried by schoolchildren from its original resting place into one of their family homes.MAG removed and destroyed all the potentially deadly items in a controlled demolition at a safe area away from the village, and gave Risk Education sessions to all the school children.

"When we saw the bomb we did not know what to do with it," said the headmaster. "We told the children to stay away but they would often play close by. Since MAG arrived, our students can come to school safely and use safe behaviours."