Teachers in Sudan’s Khartoum State have entered a third week of strike action over salaries they say cannot cover basic living costs, unpaid entitlements and deteriorating schools, Al Jazeera reports.

The Sudanese Teachers’ Committee has organised staggered, intermittent walkouts to press the government for higher wages and allowances as war deepens the country’s education crisis.

Amal Suleiman Ahmed al-Haj, a secondary school teacher with 26 years of experience, told Al Jazeera her monthly salary of 132,000 Sudanese pounds covers only a few days of her family’s needs. A cooking gas cylinder costs about 170,000 pounds, she said.

“My salary does not cover even a quarter of our needs,” she said in reporting by Al Jazeera’s Justin Salhani.

She also described teaching in a classroom with a collapsed roof, leaving teachers and students exposed to the sun. Teachers had submitted demands to the education and finance ministries and the presidential palace without securing a solution, she said.

The committee is seeking an increase in the minimum wage from 12,000 to 500,000 Sudanese pounds, citing its cost-of-living study for a family of five and poverty-line benchmarks. It also wants previously approved measures implemented, including a higher meal allowance, a housing allowance and an allowance intended to address salary disparities among public-sector employees.

Following a meeting between ministers and unions last month, Prime Minister Kamil Idris ordered payment of money owed to teachers across Sudan. But the government provided no detailed payment schedule and did not resolve demands concerning salaries and allowances, according to Al Jazeera.

Committee spokesperson Sami al-Baqir said participation in the strikes was initially widespread but later declined. He alleged government measures had undermined the action, including loosening attendance controls and making partial payments when new strikes were announced.

The dispute comes amid the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which began in April 2023. The conflict has damaged schools and left educational facilities serving as displacement shelters or military sites. At least eight million children are out of school, according to UN figures cited by Al Jazeera.

Amal acknowledged that suspended classes were hurting her students, but said teachers needed basic conditions to continue working.

“We are not asking for luxuries,” she said. “We just want to be able to live, get to our schools and continue our educational mission.”

Sources