By Miriam Scharf

In Sudan there is an ongoing revolution, a massive network of democratically elected resistance committees and now, this week, a nation wide teachers  strike. 

The economic situation is dire, becoming worse day-by-day. No teacher in Sudan can live on the present salary. Families survive on remittances from abroad.

>> Read more on the economic and political crisis in an interview with Sudanese Teachers’ Committee activists here

The Sudanese Teachers Committee, as per the established regulations, explained their demands to the Federal Minister of Finance. The deadline for the Ministry to respond to ended 8th March. The STC met that day to discuss the Ministry’s response and to plan for the strike. 

The STC’s strike committee includes representatives from all parts of the country. The strike will include all teachers in Sudan, approx. 350,000 teachers. The strike plan includes gradual strikes by cities, holding protests, and lectures/conferences to raise the public’s awareness about reasons and goals of the strike. On 8th March the Sudanese Teachers’ Committee Media Office sent the following: 

– The deadline that we set in the memorandum submitted by the committee to the Federal Ministry of Finance has passed without any reaction to it, especially as the economic conditions are worsening by the hour. 

As you know, the memorandum submitted by the committee to the Ministry of Finance contained three demands:

1. Raising the minimum wage to 24,000 pounds = approx £18/ month
2. B. Removing the dual salary structure and containing them in one structure which is “The Amended 2022 Structure”.
3. Disbursement of the February salary adjusted with the January salary difference this month. – Ignoring the Ministry of Finance to respond to the memorandum of demands submitted to it reflects its view of education and its contempt for teachers 

The Sudanese Teachers’ Committee held a meeting to determine the next steps, and after deliberating and reading the reports, the following has been agreed on: 

1. Implementation of a comprehensive strike in all the states of Sudan, provided that it is a scheduled strike in accordance with the following:

a. Thursday, March 10, is a strike.

B. Sunday, March 13th business as usual.

c. Monday and Tuesday (14-15 March) strike action

d. Wednesday and Thursday (16-17 March) business as usual.

2. The strike committees and the auxiliary committees shall remain in permanent session.

3. Full coordination between the strike committee and the teachers’ committees in the localities of Khartoum state and all states of Sudan will continue. 

What you can do:

• Please send messages of solidarity to: sudansolidarityconference@gmail.com
• Trade unionists in the NW join the regional solidarity conference we are organising on 26 March, 3pm online (Register on Eventbrite here: https://nwsudansolidarityconf.eventbrite.co.uk, FB event here and printable leaflet here – image for social media below)
• Download and share the latest Sudan Update with your union colleagues here pdf here