Zalingei parents fear to send kids away for exams, C. Darfur

Parents of pupils living in Zalingei displaced camps denounced a security committee’s decision stating students must take their examinations in centers located outside the camps. There are several sites around the outskirts of Zalingei housing tens of thousands of people displaced by the conflict in Darfur. In previous years the ministry of education provided primary level examinations at these sites rather than in the city itself. Sheikhs of the displaced community in Central Darfur’s capital support the parents’ claims saying that pupils should not have to travel to take the exams. A coordinator told Radio Dabanga on Tuesday the committee’s decision to transfer the tests to external centers would punish over three thousand displaced pupils as their safety cannot be guaranteed. He is urging the security committee to reconsider their resolution and let students take their tests within the camps.Photo: Students attend classes in makeshift classrooms at the Al Salam Basic School for Girls in Kabkabiya, North Darfur (Albert González Farran/ UNAMID)