On World Teachers' Day: Demands to provide housing for teachers in Sudan

Amsterdam – October 6, 2026 – Radio Dabanga The world celebrated World Teachers' Day on Monday (October 5). This day arrives under harsh conditions as Sudan experiences a war that has paralyzed all aspects of life, foremost among them the educational process, threatening to create an educational and pedagogical gap that affects tens of thousands of young people. Under these circumstances, a teacher's salary is no longer enough to buy a gas cylinder or cover round-trip transportation costs. This has pushed many teachers to seek other jobs, balancing them with their teaching work, which means not having enough time to focus on the important daily tasks and details of a teacher's job. In this context, Ali Saeed, a curriculum specialist and leader in the Popular Initiative for Education, spoke to Radio Dabanga, saying that there is no school without a teacher because the teacher is the foundation and backbone of the educational process. He demanded that the state take care of teachers, as they practice the only profession that creates generations of engineers, doctors, politicians, and leaders. He added that a teacher who lacks the ability to provide a decent living for their family cannot perform the required duties for their students, because someone burdened with rent, transportation, food, drink, and their children's education cannot teach students in a way that makes them assets for the future. He explained that the result is contributing to the creation of a backward nation, demanding that the teacher's salary be the highest in the state. Ali Saeed explained, in his interview with Dabanga on the occasion of World Teachers' Day, that a teacher combines several roles that rarely come together in any other profession; they are an educator, a professional, a technician, a pedagogue, and an administrator all at once. This means the teacher does not just work during standard hours but continues working and staying up at night to prepare for the next day's lessons. Provision of Aids: Ali Saeed called for providing all aids, tools, methods, and equipment to teachers—such as books, references, radio devices, recording equipment, computers, and smartphones—at discounted prices, if not for free, because these tools benefit the students more than they benefit the teacher personally. He also demanded that teachers be granted free travel tickets during their holidays to anywhere in the world to observe the experiences of other countries and how their educational systems function, in order to bring this expertise back to their educational institutions. He further demanded that teachers receive free housing and enjoy social stability, criticizing teachers' reliance on private tutoring, which diminishes the teacher's value and the student's perception of them; as a student who receives private lessons for a fee effectively becomes the teacher's employer. Criticisms: Ali Saeed criticized the authorities' handling of teachers' movements by arresting them and viewing them as rebels and outlaws. He pointed out the necessity of treating teachers with the respect they deserve and holding them accountable under the law only if they deviate from it or from public decency. He noted that impoverishing and neglecting educational institutions has led to the current proliferation of militias in various forms. He added that the current education budget is insufficient to accommodate students who deserve to be in the classroom, causing them to become homeless due to the lack of schools and weak capacity. He explained that most schools have become private and that education has turned into a commodity, which is the worst development as it treats people's knowledge, education, and upbringing as commerce, especially since some of those overseeing these investments have nothing to do with pedagogy or the educational process. He added that the schools established by philanthropists in the past were called 'subsidized schools,' opened by educators like Al-Ahfad and Al-Doush. The Ministry of Education used to send teachers to these schools, paying some of their salaries while the school owner paid the rest. Additionally, some locals organized subscriptions to establish schools like 'Al-Mu'tamar,' 'Al-Jami'a Al-Ahliya,' and other models. He pointed out that the current suffering is exacerbated by the war, which has diverted 75% of the budget to defense, explaining that the real war is the war against disease and ignorance, calling for the education and health budget to be between 75% and 80%. He concluded by congratulating every teacher around the world, hoping for the return of peace and the restoration of society to its former greatness.