Within 48 hours, Sudan announced the results of two exams bearing the same name, the “Sudanese Certificate,” organized by two warring authorities, in one of the clearest manifestations of the division that the war transferred from the land and institutions of government to education and the future of students.
In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, the authority affiliated with the “Tasas” coalition loyal to the “Rapid Support Forces” announced, on Tuesday, the results of the secondary school certificate exams that it organized in areas under its control in Darfur and Kordofan. On Thursday, the government’s Ministry of Education in Khartoum announced the results of the Sudanese certificate exams for the 2025-2026 academic year, after it was approved by the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council and Army Commander Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, on Tuesday.
The difference between the two exams is large. 559,000 students sat for the government exams inside and outside Sudan, compared to 510,000 before the war, while 10,664 students registered for the “establishment” exams, 9,314 of whom sat, but these numbers do not include students who were unable to take either exam, in a country where at least 8 million school-age children are still out of school, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Taaseed’s organization of exams does not mean that it reached all qualified students in the areas under its control; The number of students sitting (9,314 students) is limited compared to the expansion of the war zones and the size of the educational crisis in Darfur and Kordofan. UNICEF estimates that about 4 million school-age children live in Darfur alone, more than 3 million of whom are out of school, while Darfur and Kordofan are among the regions most affected by the disruption of education.
The lines of military control also do not match the map of the two exams. Tens of thousands of Darfur and Kordofan students were able to access government exams outside their areas, while war, displacement, and difficulty of movement prevented others from accessing any exam.
In June, UNICEF called for all Sudanese students to be given an equal opportunity to sit for a unified and recognized national exam, warning that the multiple exams may create divisions that limit their opportunities in the future. In addition to the Khartoum and Nyala exams, there are thousands whose results do not appear for either of them, after war, displacement, and the disruption of schools deprived them of sitting for the exam.
Emotional division
A Sudanese educational expert (who requested that his name be withheld for reasons related to his safety) believes that the danger goes beyond having two exams to what he described as “emotional division” among students of the same country.
He says that the Sudanese certificate is supposed to be available to students in the 18 states, and that depriving students in war zones of an equal opportunity may create a feeling of injustice and marginalization, calling for a “moral agreement” between the two sides of the war that isolates students and education from the fighting, and allows exams to be held in safe areas.
He refers to the experience of the Darfur war, when students moved from areas controlled by armed movements to cities to sit for exams and then return, stressing that a student’s right to education should not be determined by the military entity controlling his area. He warns that dropping out in war zones is no longer just an absence from school; Students turned to work, mining, and marginal businesses, and others became involved in fighting. This makes it difficult to return them to classes, and some of them are exposed to “regressive illiteracy” as a result of the long absence. He believes that the “establishment” exam was an attempt to preserve the rights of students who were unable to take government exams, but establishing two certification systems may turn the political and geographical division into a long-term educational division.
The government presents the increase in the number of people sitting its exams as an indicator of the recovery of education. The Minister of Education, El-Tohamy El-Zein Hajar, said that 559,000 male and female students took the exams, an increase of 49,000 compared to before the war, considering this evidence of the stability and regularity of the educational process. According to the ministry, exams were held in 3,333 centers inside and outside Sudan, including 84 centers in 14 countries.
When approving the result, Al-Burhan praised the teachers’ steadfastness and their efforts to continue the educational process, stressing the state’s commitment to supporting education.
But the educational expert believes that increasing the number of examinees is not enough to prove recovery, which must also be measured by the quality of education, the school environment, the stability of the school year, the decline in dropouts, the conditions of teachers, academic achievement, and curricula. But UNICEF estimates indicate that at least 8 million children are still out of school, with the crisis concentrated in Darfur and Kordofan.
Mixed numbers for schools
The disagreement extends to the number of schools operating; The minister says that 26,000 schools out of 29,000 are operating regularly, and that only 3,000 are suspended.
But the Sudanese Teachers Committee casts doubt on the numbers, and says that the number of schools before the war was between 21 and 22 thousand, wondering how it rose during the war years to 29 thousand, and whether calculating the intermediate stage separately was behind part of the difference.
According to the committee, the five states of Darfur included 4,901 schools, in addition to 740 in South Kordofan and 1,218 in West Kordofan. What makes the statement that only three thousand schools are suspended, in light of the war and military control over large areas, requires an explanation.
Government figures also differ from estimates by international organizations that indicate the continued closure of large numbers of schools and the disruption of others due to displacement and war.
Asharq Al-Awsat tried to obtain clarification from the Ministry of Education regarding the difference in statistics and criteria for calculating an “operating” school, and its position on the “establishment” certificate and teachers’ wages and arrears, but the official spokesman did not respond until the report was prepared.
Salary covers 3 percent
According to a study issued by the Social Office of the Teachers’ Committee in September, the cost of the monthly basic needs for a family of five is about 4.18 million Sudanese pounds, or about 597 dollars, according to an exchange rate of about 7 thousand pounds to the dollar, and the average teacher’s salary is 128 thousand and 125 Sudanese pounds, equivalent to 18 dollars at this price, or only about three percent of that cost.
Teachers Committee spokesman Sami Al-Baqir told Asharq Al-Awsat that the study adopted market prices in Khartoum State, and calculated food, transportation, cooking gas, water, electricity, and other basic expenses.
Even if the expected increases are implemented and the average teacher salary rises to about 395,000 pounds, the committee says that it will only cover 9.4 percent of the cost of living. It called for raising the minimum wage to 370.5 thousand pounds, approving a nature of work allowance of 70 percent of the basic salary, paying salaries and arrears for the years 2023 and 2024, reviewing allowances according to inflation, and addressing the conditions of teachers in Darfur and Kordofan.
From separation to gold minerals
The story of teacher Muhammad al-Majzoub al-Haj Hamad reveals part of the repercussions of the wage crisis. He was killed when a mining well collapsed on him, after he turned to private gold prospecting in search of an alternative source of livelihood.
Al-Baqir says that poor wages, delayed salaries, and high costs of living pushed teachers to other jobs, while some of them left the profession or reduced their involvement with it.
He adds that teachers appreciate Al-Burhan’s praise of their steadfastness, but they are waiting for decisions that will affect their lives, because opening schools and holding exams do not mean a sustainable recovery if the teacher is unable to support his family or is forced to leave the classroom in search of livelihood.
The announcement of the “establishment” result raises another problem related to the future of the certificate and its recognition. Thousands of students passed an exam organized by an authority whose legitimacy is not recognized by the central government, while the Ministry of Education did not clarify whether it would recognize the certificate or how it would deal with its holders.
The Teachers' Committee believes that students should not pay the price of war or the party that controls their areas, but it warns that the continuation of two exams may lead to more than two diplomas: different curricula, different academic recognition, and two educational systems in one country.
The committee calls for an urgent national solution through a unified committee that includes educational institutions and professional forces, in coordination with international organizations, to reach a unified exam and a formula that preserves the rights of students in all regions.
This is consistent with UNICEF’s call for a unified and recognized national examination that guarantees fairness of opportunity and protects the value of students’ qualifications and future choices.
Within 48 hours, Sudan obtained two results for one certificate, under two different authorities, while millions of children remained out of school, and teachers faced a crisis that prompted some of them to leave the classroom in search of a livelihood.
Among the thousands of students who did not reach the exams, others who hold a certificate whose fate they do not know, and teachers whose living conditions force them to leave the classroom, the crisis raises many more complex questions, the most prominent of which is: What education will be available to the Sudanese after the war?
Amid controversy among economic experts about the feasibility of the step, the two governments in western and eastern Libya agreed to regulate the import of goods and merchandise intended for trade purposes, and to ban their supply outside banking channels, in an effort to limit the demand for the dollar in the parallel market.
The decision is a rare consensus between the two competing governments, in light of the political and institutional division that has been ongoing for years. It was issued in the middle of the week, simultaneously, by the National Unity Government, headed by Abdel Hamid Dabaiba in the west of the country, and the government appointed by the House of Representatives, headed by Osama Hammad.
Supporters of the decision believe that regulating imports through banking channels could contribute to reducing the demand for the dollar outside the official sector, provided that foreign currency is actually available to importers, and that banking procedures are accompanied by strict control over credits and the movement of goods.
On the other hand, its critics warn that restricting imports without addressing the shortage of foreign liquidity may push some traders to the parallel market, raising the cost of goods and increasing pressure on prices, especially if small importers are unable to access bank financing.
The two governments' decision is scheduled to begin implementation as of September 30, at a time when the exchange market is facing increasing pressure, with the widening difference between the official price of the dollar and its price in the parallel market, and the resulting effects on trade and prices.
Among the voices supporting the decision is Professor of Economics at the University of Benghazi, Dr. Ali Al-Sharif, who believes that the decision represents a measure within a plan aimed at regulating the market and controlling the movement of trade and imports, considering that its success will depend on the extent to which it is implemented in an effective and unified manner by the concerned authorities.
Al-Sharif said, in a post on his personal Facebook account, that the effective implementation of the decision could contribute to reducing the demand for foreign currencies outside the banking sector, and reducing transactions on the dollar in the parallel market, in a way that supports the stability of the exchange market.
The decision coincided with an increase in the price of the dollar in the parallel market by about 13 piasters. It recorded 9.28 dinars, compared to 9.15 dinars the previous day, according to traders and merchants, while the official price, according to the prices of the Central Bank of Libya, was about 6.32 dinars.
Thus, the gap between the two prices is about 2.96 dinars to the dollar, which means that the price of the US currency in the parallel market is about 47 percent higher than the official price, a difference that reflects the amount of pressure on the exchange market and the size of the demand for foreign exchange.
But economic expert Dr. Abdul Hamid Al-Fadil views the decision from a different angle, as he believes that it may serve large merchants who are able to obtain documentary credits, while placing small, real merchants in front of greater burdens, without addressing the origin of the foreign currency crisis.
Al-Fadil said, in a post on Facebook, that what he called “credit whales” obtain tens of millions of foreign exchange to resell in the parallel market, while small merchants are harmed, wondering about the feasibility of buying the dollar for 9.28 dinars, if it is available through official channels at a lower price.
Documentary credits are bank facilities that allow merchants to obtain foreign currency at the official rate to finance import operations, but over the past years they have raised criticism and suspicions regarding the extent to which foreign exchange reaches real importers and is used for its intended purposes.
These concerns have increased with recent regulatory procedures. The Administrative Control Authority announced suspicions of violations related to documentary credit procedures in about 500 companies, which brought back to the forefront the issue of foreign exchange distribution and the safety of import operations.
On August 18, the Ministry of Economy and Trade issued a decision to suspend the activity of 27 companies linked to three beneficiaries from one family, after the value of the credits granted to them exceeded $146 million, in an incident that highlighted the dangers of concentrated use of foreign exchange.
The decision is not devoid of political significance. Al-Sharif believes that unifying procedures between the ministries of economy in the East and West could represent a first step towards rapprochement of economic institutions, leading to unified policies and economic decisions issued in the future by a single Libyan government.
