Sudan teachers seek 20% budget share with 8m children outside school

The Sudanese Teachers' Committee said on Monday evening that about 8 million children were currently outside Sudan's education system, Dabanga reported Oct. 27 in a news report via AllAfrica.

The committee's 8 million schooling figure compares with more than 13 million people displaced since April 2023. It also demanded that education receive 20% of the national budget.

Ammar Youssef, a committee member, said families were finding education harder to afford and public schools were struggling to keep operating, Dabanga reported.

Sami al-Baqir, the committee's spokesperson, said the minimum wage was SDG 12,000, using the abbreviation for Sudanese pounds, based on the committee's estimates. He called for higher salaries, payment of arrears and better school conditions.

Al-Baqir said the committee would continue what he called a "long-haul battle". He said defending public education and securing teachers' rights were the campaign's two main goals.

The committee said the strike in Khartoum state entered its second consecutive day on Tuesday, with strong participation in Karari, Bahri and East Nile localities. It urged teachers across Sudan to join the action and asked parents to support its demands.

The union body said its field monitoring showed a marked decline in pupil numbers, especially in poorer and peripheral areas. It warned that children from low-income families, who depend heavily on public schools, were most exposed to losing access.

The committee said some teachers were absent because they could not pay for transport to school, not only because they were taking part in the strike. It linked that problem to low salaries and rising living costs.

Sudan's education pressures sit inside a wider humanitarian crisis. Atlas360 reported on Oct. 27 that the U.S., EU and 30 countries warned that conflict, aid obstruction and drought were deepening hunger, with 19.5 million people facing acute food insecurity.

The committee also criticised a widening divide between ordinary public schools and high-fee model schools. It said some model schools were able to continue because teachers could earn paid lesson income there, while poorer public schools faced weaker resources.

The Dabanga news report did not include a response from Sudanese authorities. It also did not provide official enrolment data or a current national education-spending share against which to test the committee's 8 million estimate or 20% budget demand.

The committee accused the authorities of trying to bypass teachers' demands through bodies it said were no longer effective and through unfulfilled promises to pay arrears. Those allegations were presented by the committee and were not independently verified in the report.

By the end of the week, the strike's higher committee is due to assess conditions on the ground and review how the Khartoum state strike is developing.

At that meeting, the committee is also expected to decide whether to escalate through further peaceful measures. Al-Baqir said options under consideration include school closures and sit-ins if authorities do not meet the committee's demands.

The same review will test whether participation remains concentrated in the Khartoum localities named by the committee on Tuesday or broadens after its call for teachers across Sudan to join.

Source: news report, Dabanga via AllAfrica, Oct. 27, 2026