Over 11,000 teachers strike in Sudan’s Kassala state over unpaid wages

 Around 11,000 teachers in Sudan’s eastern Kassala state went on strike on Sunday to demand the payment of long-overdue financial entitlements and wage increases.

The industrial action follows growing economic pressures on educators across Sudan, who are grappling with a severe economic crisis that has rapidly deteriorated since the outbreak of war in April 2023. Last week, Kassala’s security services summoned the head of the local teachers’ committee, Sayed Timba, after the group announced its plans for the strike, News.Az reports, citing Sudan Tribune.

Timba told Sudan Tribune that out of more than 12,000 teachers in the state, around 11,000 joined the strike, affecting more than 800 schools.

He said compliance with the strike exceeded 95% across Kassala state, with a 100% participation rate in several localities and over 90% in the towns of Kassala and Khashm el-Girba.

The strike spread across the vast majority of the state’s administrative units, including New Halfa, Wad el-Hileau, rural Kassala, Telkok, Hamashkoreib, West Kassala, Atbara River, rural Aroma, and North Delta, Timba said, describing uncooperative schools as isolated pockets.

Timba added that teachers chose to strike after losing confidence in government promises, noting that authorities failed to honour previous commitments that had led educators to suspend earlier protests last year.

The teachers’ demands include the payment of salary differentials backdated to 2023, holiday allowances for four years, and cash alternatives and clothing allowances for the same period, alongside the implementation of wage adjustments for 2025 and 2026.

Timba warned that teachers would prolong the strike if authorities failed to respond in the coming days, adding that the committee plans to organise a sit-in outside the Ministry of Education as part of its escalatory steps.

The Kassala state branch of the Sudanese Teachers’ Committee confirmed the high turnout in a separate statement, highlighting that schools in New Halfa were completely shut down.

New Halfa educators also staged a protest outside the local educational administration offices to demand their rights. The committee accused the Kassala state government and the Ministry of Education of failing to take their grievances seriously, urging officials to address the root causes of the crisis rather than ignoring them.

News.Az 

By Faig Mahmudov