Protesting teachers detained in Sudan’s El Gezira

Teachers in Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira, carried out a sit-in on Sunday, in protest against the government’s decision to close more than 200 schools in the state. The teachers also demanded a salary rise and payment of their delayed allowances since 2013.

Policemen, aided by agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrested a number of protesting teachers.

According to the Sudanese Teachers' Committee, Osman Hamad, Abdallah Hassan, Adel Babu, Ibtihaj Ahmed, Tawfig Khalil, Abubakr Mohamed Ali, Manal Ahmed, Mona Ibrahim, Hindi Mohamed Ahmed, Mutaz Atta, El Daw Mohamed Ahmed, Khalid Salah, Anji Mohamed Ahmed, Abubakr Mahdi and Raya Elias were detained.

The opposition National Umma Party (NUP) strongly condemned the decision of El Gezira state Ministry of Education to close more than 200 secondary schools at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year that will start next Sunday.

In a statement on Sunday, the NUP held “the entire regime fully responsible for the consequences of the decision, which was taken “arbitrarily and hastily, and exposes the country to more tensions in addition to the difficult economic and living conditions”.

The party expressed its solidarity with the residents of El Gezira state and called on them “to continue their struggle and never give up the right to education”.