Failure of Al Jazirah State to Address Teachers’ Demands Behind School Year Delay

Moatinoon
The Sudanese Teachers Committee has said that the real reasons behind the Ministry of Education in Al Jazirah State’s decision to postpone the start of the compensatory academic year until June 14, 2026, go beyond the official explanations provided and are directly linked to growing frustration and discontent among teachers over the continued neglect of their financial and professional rights.

In a statement, the committee said the state government has failed to meet its obligations toward teachers and education workers, pointing to the accumulation of more than 14 months of unpaid financial entitlements, in addition to allowances, bonuses, and benefits that have remained unpaid since the outbreak of the war. The committee also cited low salaries that no longer meet the minimum requirements for a decent standard of living.

According to the statement, the state authorities were also unable to pay May salaries and the Eid al-Adha grant on time, leaving thousands of teachers and their families facing difficult economic conditions during the holiday period and fueling protests and labor activism across the education sector.

The committee noted that the ongoing movement among teachers in Al Jazirah State is part of a broader wave of teachers’ protests in several states, including Kassala, Northern State, and White Nile, driven by worsening living conditions and the lack of response to legitimate demands.

The committee expressed its full support for the ongoing mobilization and rejected any attempts to divert attention from teachers’ core issues through administrative decisions that fail to address the root causes of the crisis. It stressed that postponing classes or changing academic schedules would not halt teachers’ demands and that educational stability cannot be achieved without addressing their grievances.

The committee called on the authorities to ensure the timely payment of salaries, settle all outstanding dues, improve wages and working conditions, pay all pending allowances and benefits, and engage in serious dialogue with legitimate representatives of teachers on professional and labor-related issues.

It further emphasized that ensuring the stability of the academic year and rescuing the education sector in Al Jazirah State requires an immediate and fair response to the demands of education workers, noting that teachers who have endured war, displacement, deteriorating services, and economic hardship will not abandon their struggle for their legitimate rights.