Today's Edition
Dina Mahmoud (London)
A new academic year is about to be lost for Sudanese students and researchers, as the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces approaches the end of its seventh month, with no real hope of reaching an imminent end to the crisis.
The outbreak of the conflict in mid-April last year led to an early end of the school year for many who were forced to flee their homes or whose schools, universities, and educational institutes were closed, either due to violence or because they were turned into temporary shelters for the displaced.
The new school year will likely only begin in states that have been characterised as safe. However, this opportunity will not be available to students in troubled regions. Academic experts warn of the escalating losses that the current fighting inflicts on the state of scientific research and the future of education in Sudan.
According to these experts, the battles between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have led to the destruction, looting, or severe damage of more than a hundred universities. The conflict also poses a grave threat to museums and heritage sites, some of which have already been destroyed or set on fire during the clashes.
In addition, students, researchers, and scientists make up a significant part of the Sudanese displaced and refugees, whose total number now stands at 5.3 million, according to United Nations data. This has prompted local and international experts to call for assistance in transferring the affected researchers and students to universities away from the conflict zones, whether in their own country or abroad.
Experts emphasised that the universities that will host these academics will need sufficient resources and infrastructure, including continuous internet connectivity, to enable those they shelter to communicate with their peers abroad and complete their studies or research.
Furthermore, these experts, in statements published by the online site “Nature”, have called for the provision of scholarships for refugee Sudanese students and researchers. The scholarships should be short-term, not longer than two years, to keep those academics closely connected to their home country, enabling them to help rebuild its scientific and educational institutions as soon as calm returns.
The experts agree that this process will require significant international support, considering the decline that the academic sector has suffered over recent decades. Previously, the University of Khartoum was ranked among the top ten universities in all of Africa until the 1980s.
