Hundreds of teachers in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and its surrounding regions have gone on strike, leading to a total shutdown of the teaching and learning process in more than 100 schools. This large-scale protest and strike action arose from the deep frustration of teachers over long-overdue unpaid salaries, accumulated benefit debts, low wage rates, and the worsening cost of living in the country.
Sami al-Baqer, the official spokesperson for the Sudanese Teachers Committee, told the Sudan Tribune that this strike is part of an ongoing struggle for teachers to secure their rights, as well as better economic and professional security. Currently, the school strike has heavily impacted areas across Khartoum state, including Jabal Awliya, East Nile, and Greater Omdurman, where thousands of students have been forced out of the classroom because teachers did not return to their workplaces.
According to a statement issued by the committee, the teachers decided to launch the strike due to the relevant government authorities’ continuous indifference toward their demands and their failure to pay accumulated salaries, allowances, bonuses, and other legal entitlements. In particular, the fact that teachers were forced to spend the Eid al-Adha holiday without any salary or financial disbursement pushed the existing resentment within the sector to a critical breaking point.
To resolve the crisis and bring teachers back to work, the Sudanese Teachers Committee has presented several fundamental demands. First, they are firmly calling for the minimum monthly wage to be raised from the current 12,000 Sudanese pounds to 216,000 Sudanese pounds, arguing that the current rate is completely incompatible with the skyrocketing cost of living.
In addition to the wage hike, the committee demands that all long-overdue salary arrears and service benefits be paid to the rightful recipients immediately. They are also calling for the implementation of proper professional promotions, alongside an end to forced leaves without adequate reason and unjust dismissal measures. Furthermore, they urged the government to increase the amount of funding allocated to the education sector and to stop passing additional financial burdens onto students’ families and parents.
The committee emphasized that the stability of the educational process can only be guaranteed when teachers’ living conditions improve and they are secured a dignified life that matches their honor. They explained that the current crisis is the direct result of years of neglect, marginalization, and deteriorating working conditions within the education sector.
The teachers have warned that they will continue to strengthen their protest movement until their demands are fully met, noting that the sustainability of education depends entirely on resolving their grievances. Meanwhile, this teacher protest is not limited to Khartoum state alone. Over the past few months, similar protests have taken place across multiple Sudanese states, including Kassala, Northern State, White Nile, and Gezira. The main drivers for the protests in all these regions are delayed salaries, accumulated arrears, and the catastrophic economic collapse tied to the ongoing civil war in the country.
