Khartoum teachers call strike in pay dispute

The Sudanese Teachers' Committee announced that higher secondary school teachers in Khartoum state will stop working as of Wednesday in protest against the delay in payment of salaries.

In a statement, the committee directed the teachers to go to the schools without entering the classrooms in a strike because of delay of salary.

A senior leader of the teachers' committee told Radio Dabanga that the suspension of work scheduled today came because of the delay of the salary for higher secondary school teachers. The delay deepens the teachers’ financial concerns amid rising prices for goods and fuel.

She described this as an outright fight against the teachers, forcing them to leave the profession.

The teachers' committee has called on teachers via Radio Dabanga to adhere to the acquired union right, namely, strike in case of salary delay after the fifth day of the month.

The teachers' committee explained that the call for a strike in case of non-receipt of salary is directed to all teachers in the states of Sudan.

Four teachers are still detained without charge.

Yesterday the Teachers' Committee said in a statement that the detained teachers were: Amin Osman, the headmaster of the Academy school in Kafouri in Khartoum North, Mahjoub Mirghani, the headmaster of El Mutawafigoun school in Omdurman, El Hadi Marshoud the headmaster of El Hoda basic private school in El Haj Yousif and Arafat Jamaledin of the Shambat school n Khartoum North.

The Committee stressed its steadfastness in the face of injustice and the escalation of demands in solidarity with the union partners to take a unified position on common issues, especially the large gap between the salary of the employee and the cost of living.

Yesterday morning, the families of the detainees held a protest in front of Khartoum Human Rights Office in Khartoum demanding response to the memorandum they raised a while ago.

The families pointed out that the security services have not informed them of the detainees' conditions. Participants said the Commission responded to the families that it had visited Kober Prison where it had been briefed on the detainees' condition after randomly selecting the names of 20 detainees.

The families said the matter had prompted the families to protest and alert that they had handed over names to UN authorities hoping that all the detainees would be followed up and said the commission had promised to address the issue.