KHARTOUM -
Father Youssef Mohamed, the head of a family from one of the flood-affected villages in Al Gezira state (central Sudan), is awaiting decisive decisions to postpone the opening of the school year, fearing that his children will return to their school, which is about to collapse due to torrential rains and torrential rains.
Muhammad, 52, says that adhering to the school year calendar means that the authorities are deliberately ignoring the human tragedy they are experiencing, and he described - in a telephone conversation with Al Jazeera Net - the return of students to study in these circumstances as impossible.
According to the father, the schools of his village (two primary schools and one secondary schools) were severely damaged, and unless urgent maintenance operations were carried out for the classrooms and facilities, especially the primitive bathrooms, the consequences could be dire, as he described.
He pointed out that a large number of families have begun to transfer their children to schools in neighboring cities and villages, to avoid any expected decisions to close the village's schools, as they are on the verge of collapse.
The Evaluation and Measurement Department of the Ministry of Education in Gezira State had announced the postponement of exams for the basic stage certificate indefinitely until the flood and rain crisis is resolved.
A general view of the floods that swept the capital, Khartoum (Reuters)
Huge losses
In Sudan, demands have escalated to postpone the opening of the school year from September 18, until the torrential rains and floods that swept most of the country's states stop.
Sixteen out of 18 states were affected by this year's floods, which killed 122 citizens and collapsed 84,000 homes, according to the latest update issued by the Civil Defense Police.
The spokesman for the Sudanese National Council for Civil Defense, Brigadier General Abdel Jalil Abdel Rahim, revealed to Al Jazeera Net that 124 schools had partially or completely collapsed, and acknowledged the inability of the inventory teams to reach a number of affected areas due to road cuts.
intense meetings
Al Jazeera Net learned that the designated Minister of Education, Mahmoud Sir Al-Khatim Al-Houry, engaged in extensive meetings with the Emergency Committee for the Flood Crisis, the last of which was today, Tuesday, to discuss preparations for the opening of the new school year.
Minister Al-Houri confirmed, in a statement two days ago, that the school year will be on schedule, on Sunday, September 18.
However, a source in the ministry told Al Jazeera Net that the date of the school year is now subject to the decisions of the Emergency Committee and the reports received from the stricken states.
The source expected to resort to the postponement option if the authorities were unable to provide suitable alternatives for students affected by the collapse of government schools.
Teachers' Committee with postponement
Among the advocates of postponing the school year is the Sudanese Teachers Committee (union formation), whose leaders indicate that thousands of students have been affected by the flood disaster.
The leadership of the committee, Qamariya Omar, suggests postponing the school year for at least a month, similar to what happened in 2020, to make room for addressing the problems facing students and parents before the return to school season.
Kamaria Omar told Al Jazeera Net that the insistence on starting the school year on time despite the continuation of the rainy season poses a threat to the lives of students and teachers alike.
She added, "Dozens of schools have been destroyed, and the rainy season is not over yet, which means there is a high possibility of the collapse of classrooms and classroom facilities."
She recalled the tragedy of the death of a teacher in Omdurman locality as a result of the collapse of the school's bathroom in the fall of 2017.
But the trade unionist Omar also pointed out that the floods are not the only reason for the demands for postponement, as there is a crisis of high school fees, a record high, amid the hardship of living suffered by most Sudanese families.
formal treatments
The announcement by the Ministry of Education that the academic year will be held on time sheds light on the treatments owned by the Ministry and the competent authorities to avoid the fall crises.
The source from the Ministry of Education says that its treatments will have two dimensions: the first is temporary, which consists in redistributing the affected students to schools in villages far from the center of the flood, and the second is long-term, which is concerned with providing support for the reconstruction of collapsed government schools on solid construction foundations, in order to avoid any future floods.
In some of the affected villages, popular campaigns were launched by the people, especially the affluent ones, to restore schools or rebuild them completely and to ensure that their children did not miss the school year.
They called on members of the resistance committees and voluntary organizations to extend a helping hand to all those affected to overcome the flood crisis.
Warnings of avalanches due to torrential rains and floods in Sudan (Anatolia)
tough choices
Al-Fadil Ibrahim, a journalist specializing in service sectors, especially health and education, believes that the Ministry of Education is in a very difficult situation.
Ibrahim told Al Jazeera Net that the postponement of the school year is dictated by objective necessities, on top of which are the devastating effects of torrential rains and floods on educational facilities.
On the other hand, he indicated his understanding of the reasons for the ministry's adherence to the start date of the school year for fear of disruption of the calendar again, after the effects of the continuous postponement since 2019 for reasons related to political turmoil, the Corona crisis, as well as the floods of 2020.
Ibrahim said that the high rates of rain in recent years necessitate drafting a new calendar that avoids the return of students to schools in the rainy season.