A teachers’ wage dispute in Sudan’s Khartoum State has brought another interruption to a school system damaged by war, with at least 8 million children already out of school.
The Committee for Justice documented a strike on Oct. 21-22 and said teachers sought a minimum wage of 500,000 Sudanese pounds. The Sudanese Teachers’ Committee called for further walkouts on Nov. 9-10, Ultra Sudan reported.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) counted 63% of schools across Sudan as operational in the first half of 2026, while 81% of schools in Darfur were closed. The agency linked delays in reopening to extended periods without pay for more than half of the country’s teachers.
In an Oct. 11 account, UNICEF said at least 8 million children remained out of school. The war, which began in April 2023, has damaged education facilities and displaced families. Some families forced from their homes are sheltering in school buildings, further limiting space for lessons, UNICEF said.
One teacher’s account shows the pressure of low pay alongside the shortage of usable classrooms. Secondary school teacher Amal Suleiman Ahmed al-Haj told Al Jazeera she earns 132,000 Sudanese pounds a month and described a classroom with a collapsed roof. Al Jazeera reported that a cylinder of cooking gas would cost her about 170,000 pounds.
In July, Sudan’s government announced a schedule for paying overdue wages, grants and allowances, beginning in August and running through the end of the 2026 fiscal year. Prime Minister Kamil Idris directed payment of teachers’ arrears across all states on Oct. 7. The October announcement gave no total for the arrears or breakdown of completed payments by state.
The government’s July plan also called for teachers’ salaries to be centralized beginning in January 2027.
