Ahmed Fadl-Khartoum

With the resumption of studies after 10 months of closure, Sudanese university presidents and students' families fear that the universities will be the scene of violence in light of the revolutionary situation in the country after the fall of the regime of President Omar al-Bashir.

According to government directives, from October 27 to October 30, all public universities should open and resume classes amid security and academic challenges.

The former regime suspended the study at all universities in December 2018 after protests demanded Bashir step down, in an attempt to besiege the protests in cities.

The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Transitional Government did not find a small victory rather than sending a message to the students "to continue peacefulness which has become a global model, not to pay attention to attempts to drag them into violence, and preserve the gains of the revolution."

The minister revealed to reporters after a meeting of the Council of Ministers last Wednesday about the measures set by the ministry to stop student violence in universities.

Banner to welcome students to Sudan University (Al Jazeera Net)

Drying the violence
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the new departments of universities after the revolution resumed the study by the development of measures, including drying up what it described as jihadist units belonging to students loyal to the former regime and the suspension of the work of student unions.

Activists circulated video on social media platforms of the dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the University of Sudan, Dr. Yasser Babiker, leading a special committee that discovered a cache of white weapons and incendiary bombs, which he said was for students of the former regime.

In the presence of the Assets Review and Airspace Commission at the University of Sudan, the video showed a worker pulling Molotov cocktails and bottles from a borrowed roof of one of the offices of the Jihad Unity.

Babiker told Al Jazeera Net that "the committee was able to dry up jihadist units in the university complexes in the western and southern sections and Kidro, as well as the removal of even the slogans of the former student union from the headquarters and concrete sofas on the campus."

Security coordination
Accompanied by the President of the University of Sudan Awad Saad Dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the reception of students on Sunday morning, after a search attended by professors, Babiker said that the students accepted with satisfaction.

The dean of the college pointed out that the power of the students of the former regime was in power, pointing out that they denied by statement that the seized weapons belong to them.

In the state of South Kordofan, the President of Dilling University Shamsoun Khamis Kafe to the island Net that the security committee in the state dealt with jihadist units in the university and completely removed.

"So far there is no problem of violence, and the university's administration will sit down with students from all colleges to ease the enthusiasm over the revolution," he said.

Students of the National Congress, the former ruling party, owned campuses in all universities on behalf of jihadist units, running a business of a security and political nature. Opponents have long accused these units of being a habitat for weapons and violence.

Families worry
At the University of Khartoum, students expressed satisfaction with the change in university administrators and boards before resuming classes, but student Esraa Zayed said her family was concerned about returning to the university in the current atmosphere.

Educational expert Mubarak Yahya says a major role awaits university administrations in proactively containing any manifestations of violence, and families should advise their children.

The presidents of public universities resigned last September on the backdrop of the choice of the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research between the dismissal and resignation. Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdouk made a recommendation by the Education Minister in the first week of this month to remove them among more than 60 university officials.

The dismissals included 31 heads of state universities and four of their deputies, and Hamdouk appointed 34 successors of Sudanese universities, most notably Fadwa Abdel Rahman Taha, president of the University of Khartoum, the largest government university, as the first woman to hold this position.

The exemptions included 28 board members of public universities who represented the former regime symbols, such as Ibrahim Ghandour, Awad al-Jaz, Makawi Mohamed Awad, Abdel Halim al-Mutafi, Hassabu Mohammed Abdel-Rahman and Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Taher.

A part of the reception of students in the Faculty of Communication Sciences (Al Jazeera Net)

Gliding and Housing
The infrastructure of the universities in terms of halls and student dormitories is a new challenge in that it will suffer from the beginning of December 15 of the next batch of students as it receives admissions this year in universities.

According to its president, Shamsoun Khamis Kafe, Dilling University suffers from a gaping gap in the limitation of the halls, as well as a shortage in the dormitories that accommodate twice its capacity.

Kavi says the dilemmas of housing and housing will be overcome by a special program that includes student rotation.

He explained that graduating students are now sitting for exams and then go on holiday before the start of the final semester of university, while the university receives a month after the new batch of students who are now beginning registration procedures.

Previous experience
Similarly, at the University of Sudan in Khartoum, on Sunday witnessed the resumption of the study of four student batches, with the university to receive another batch including admissions this year on December 15 next.

According to the Dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the university, the students, eight weeks from now, will start their exams, vowing not to waste any more time.

The dean admits that the university administration will be under great pressure, as well as the lecturers who will have to teach two first-year batches, one of which will be a precedent for the other semester.

Sudanese universities had a similar experience in 1997, when they were closed for 10 months to enable students who fought in the South Sudan war to catch up with other colleagues.