Sudan teachers’ strikes to continue this week

The Sudan Teachers’ Strike Committee announced that the general strike of schoolteachers will continue this week, after having embarked on strikes last month. Authorities try to break the strikes in various ways.

All state schools in the country will remain closed until Thursday, strike committee member Duriya Babiker told Radio Dabanga.

She reported “a wide response among teachers at state schools in the country, at a [participation] rate of almost 100 per cent” and explained that they demand an increase in the minimum wage and an improvement of the work environment.

Throughout December, teachers across Sudan closed schools on a series of strike dates.

After earlier strikes in November, the Service Affairs Bureau promised 6 per cent increase in wages two weeks ago, but teachers lament that this barely covered the rise in the cost of living in Sudan.

On November 28, the Teachers’ Strike Committee also organised a nationwide comprehensive strike because they had not received their full financial dues, such as back payments that were owed to them as far back as 2020.

The fact that teachers in the Blue Nile region and South Kordofan are not participating in the strike is due to the special circumstances in the two regions, she said. “We are in continuous contact about the strike with teachers in these areas.”

Both regions witnessed significant violence and insecurity recently.

Breaking strike

Babiker said that the authorities are trying to break the strike through various means.

In El Hilaliya in El Gezira teachers were instructed to start working on the preparation for the exams. In neighbouring Sennar, mosques urged students to prepare for their exams despite the strikes.

The North Darfur Ministry of Education closed all schools (primary, middle, and secondary schools) until Sunday, “officially because of the cold wave in the state”.

In South Darfur, the authorities announced the re-opening of the schools on Monday. Classes were suspended more than once in December ‘for security reasons’ after students took to the streets to protest against increased school fees and the inflated costs of living in general. 

Bahreldin Abdallah, Secretary of the South Darfur Teachers Committee, told Radio Dabanga that the teachers in the state will continue their strike.

“This strike aims to reform the educational process in addition to preserving the rights of the teacher,” he said. “We have nothing to do with what the ministry decides, but the teachers cling to their right to strike until the competent authorities respond to our legitimate demands.”