Professors: ‘Reopening Sudan’s universities not wise’
The decision of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to cancel the suspension of higher education lectures in the country is wrong in several ways, says the Association of Higher Education Professors.
End April, the military junta ordered the reopening of higher education institutions in the country. The studies were suspended at the end of December, to prevent students from organising protests against the government.
In a press statement read by leading member Prof Buseina Kharasani in Khartoum on Friday, the association notes that the junta does not have the right to decide on university procedures in the absence of a civilian government.
El Nilein University in Khartoum (file photo)
The decision of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to cancel the suspension of higher education lectures in the country is wrong in several ways, says the Association of Higher Education Professors.
End April, the military junta ordered the reopening of higher education institutions in the country. The studies were suspended at the end of December, to prevent students from organising protests against the government.
In a press statement read by leading member Prof Buseina Kharasani in Khartoum on Friday, the association notes that the junta does not have the right to decide on university procedures in the absence of a civilian government.
The statement called for “providing the minimum appropriate climate for the start of the studies before the universities are actually opened”. Professors and students who were dismissed because of their political affiliation must return first, and staff and students councils have to be reinstated.
The professors also emphasise the need for the dismantling of jihadist units among the students, the removal of weapons from mosques and stores at the educational institutions, and the replacement of the university police by university guards.
They further call for the dissolution of the national Student Support Fund. The universities themselves should be responsible for housing and providing subsistence to students, monitoring violations, and bringing defendants to justice, the statement reads.
Democratic trade and student unions should be restored.
The university professors also proposed the development of an emergency programme “to review the higher education policies of admission, examinations, and scientific research”.
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