Sirba camp schools in West Darfur ‘neglected’: sheikh

A shortage of teachers and books, as well as high tuition fees, head a list of complaints to the Ministry of Education of West Darfur by the displaced of the Sirba camps. A sheikh complained to Radio Dabanga of “the neglect of Sirba’s schools”. There is an acute shortage of teachers,” he said, appealing to the Ministry of Education and “those concerned with educational affairs to reform the educational environment, provide school teachers and reduce tuition fees”. The sheikh also voiced concern that “a humanitarian disaster might occur in the camp due to a shortage of food, as well as signs of the failure of the agricultural season”. He described the situation of the displaced as “tragic, as humanitarian organisations have halted provision of food for more than a year”. The sheikh also complained that nomadic herders bring their livestock to graze in agricultural areas, in spite of repeated protests to the locality’s authorities. File photo by Albert González Farran/Unamid Related: ‘Herdsmen graze livestock on Darfur farms at gunpoint’: farmers (31 July 2013)Concerns of farm failure for displaced in Central Darfur (30 July 2013)