Dina Mahmoud (Khartoum, London)
A new academic year is about to be lost for Sudanese students and researchers, as the crisis approaches completing its seventh month, without any real glimmer of hope in the possibility of reaching an imminent end to the fighting.
The outbreak of battles in mid-April led to the school year ending early, for many who were forced to flee their homes or for those whose schools, universities, and educational institutes were closed, whether due to violence, or because they were converted into temporary shelter centers for those fleeing the scourge of fighting.
As for the new academic year, it seems that it will only begin in the states that have been described as safe, while this opportunity will not be available to students in the troubled areas, at a time when academic experts are warning of the escalating losses that the current fighting is inflicting on the status 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 led to the destruction of more than 100 universities, looting them, or causing serious damage to them. In addition, these intense confrontations pose a serious threat to museums and heritage sites, some of which have already been destroyed or set on fire. It caught fire during the clashes.
In addition, students, researchers and scholars represent a significant portion of the displaced Sudanese and refugees, whose total number is now no less than 5.3 million people, according to United Nations data, which has prompted local and international experts to issue calls to extend a helping hand to transport researchers and students affected by the battles in Sudan, to other universities far from combat zones, whether inside or outside their country. Experts stressed that the universities that will host these academics, both displaced and refugees, will need sufficient resources and infrastructure, including a continuous connection to the Internet, so that those they will be hosting can communicate with their peers abroad and complete their studies or research. These experts also called, in statements published on the “Nature” website, for providing scholarships to Sudanese refugee students and researchers abroad, provided that they are short-term and do not last more than two years, so that these academics remain closely connected to their motherland, enabling them to Help rebuild its scientific and educational institutions, once calm returns.
Experts agree that this rebuilding process will require major international support, given the destruction that the war has caused to the scientific system in Sudan on the one hand, and the deterioration that has befallen the academic sector during recent decades on the other hand, after the University of Khartoum was classified among the The top 10 universities in all of Africa, until the 1980s.
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