Schools closed by teachers’ strike in West Kordofan

Teachers in West Kordofan have gone on strike again this week to demand the payment of their salaries. Schools in several localities are empty from Monday to Thursday.

The strike is carried out by teachers and school employees in Abu Zabad, El Fula, El Muglad, and Babanusa localities, a teacher told Radio Dabanga. No teacher in the state has received any salary for the month of November.

He said that although the staff of basic education institutions have received salaries, “they support the strike and expressed their solidarity with us because of the lack of salary increases”.

In Abu Zabad, a teacher confirmed that all the higher secondary and basic schools are closed and the students have left the boarding houses to go to their home areas, because of the strike. Also here the schools are planned to stay closed until Thursday.

The Teachers Union and education workers in West Kordofan also went on strike in October to demand the payment of their salaries, in Abu Zabad. Their strike lasted several days until the state government paid their salaries.

Market planning

A group of some 500 merchants in El Tadamon locality in South Kordofan have demanded from the local authorities to return the money that was paid for the planning of a market.

Representatives of the merchants told Radio Dabanga yesterday that money was raised to plan a new market in El Zaraf, but that promise was not fulfilled, and the old market in Balula has so far not been closed.

“We have held several meetings with the local authorities but they have not honoured their promise,” a merchant complained. “Either build the market or return the amounts that we have paid.”