Sudan's education ministry announces 'new strategy' in Darfur

The Sudanese ministry of education has announced a new education strategy The Sudanese ministry of education has announced a new education strategy in the troubled Darfur state, concentrating on developing education and determining future priorities. The plan will be presented in an upcoming donors' conference in Doha this December.
The chief of the Darfur regional authority and head of the Liberation and Justice movement, El-Tigani Sese, said during a meeting with education minister Soad Abdel Razek, that the administration would supply the ministry with resources to help academic reform.
Education minister Razek declared after the meeting that "the aim of this strategy is the contribution of Darfur's inhabitants in education, through focussing on donations".
"The education ministry will coordinate with the regional authority in order to make education the basic axis in peace and development operations in the region," he added.
A former teacher and member of a peace and development organisation in Darfur, Abdel Rahman Ahmed said: "The Darfur conflict has had negative effects on education and other sectors".
He added in a statement to Arabstoday: "Despite rebels using marginalisation and underdevelopment as justifications for war, they retreated from here years back".
"Several schools and villages have been affected, burnt down in the clashes...students left schools and went to camps where a class had no less than 150 students. Teaching staff was low in number, due to the bad situation and small salaries," he said.
Ahmed concluded by saying: "The war in Darfur has setback education and other sectors, it's difficult to return things to normal."