A number of citizens and students in El Gezira State have protested several times against the June 2018 government decision to suspend schools. These protests come after similar previous protests on school suspensions and low wages by the Gezira school teachers; amidst extreme violence by the National Security services and the arrest of 16 protesters.

Students of Husein Adam village organized a stand against the government‘s decision to close the village school under the justification that not enough students had enrolled in the school.

The government represented by the Gezira State governor‘s office of Mohammed Tahir Ela justifies these suspensions saying that sending scarce skilled school teachers to unequipped schools with low student turn out leads to over spending; preferring to combine schools across the State.

The decision to suspend schools will particularly lead to primary school students traveling long distances to go to school as well as families will stop sending their daughters due to these long distances ,which will further exacerbate illiteracy and increase the risk of child marriages.

Source: Alrakoba