South Darfur teachers, state workers: September salaries still unpaid

Teachers, officials, and civil servants in South Darfur have complained that their salaries from September have not been paid. The Central Committee of the Union of Education Workers gave the state government until today to pay.

The Committee said that the arrears of workers have amounted to more than SDG 110 million ($2.3 million*) including meal allowances seven months and their Eid El Adha grant.

Strike

On Sunday, the teachers of the basic and secondary stages in West Kordofan entered into a strike once again in protest against the non-payment of their salary for last September.

A number of teachers told Radio Dabanga that the strike would continue until Wednesday.

Basic and secondary schools in West Kordofan have faced a severe budget deficit due to the inability of the majority of families to pay school fees because of their poverty and hardship of living. Teachers have warned against closing schools in the event the situation continues as it is.

Payment deficit

In previous months, teachers’ strikes against the deteriorated financial and educational situation erupted in Kassala and El Gezira states. Following the holiday of Eid El Adha, teachers demanded the payment of the holiday grants and salary for August. In El Gezira teachers carried out a sit-in in protest against the government’s decision to close more than 200 schools in the state.

Large sectors of workers and employees in West Kordofan have complained about the non-payment of salaries due to the lack of banks in their localities. A number of employees of El Sunut locality told Radio Dabanga that the decision to pay the salaries through banks and ATMs represent a burden for their job, because they have to travel to other localities in order to get their salaries.

* Based on the daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan.