Sudan's certificate exams kick off amid protracted conflict

Students sit for the Sudan Certificate Examinations at a test centre in Dongola, Sudan, on Dec 28, 2024. [Xinhua] The Sudan Certificate Examinations kicked off on Saturday against a backdrop of gunfire and smoke from ongoing battles. These critical exams, essential for university enrollment, are being conducted in schools situated on the front lines, as well as in refugee camps and shelters for displaced persons.A total of 343,644 students are sitting for these pivotal exams at 2,300 centres across Sudan and abroad, while approximately 150,000 students are unable to participate due to the ongoing conflict. The exams, traditionally held at the end of secondary school, were postponed for nearly two years owing to the war that erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15, 2023. Before the outbreak of the war, more than 570,000 students had been preparing to sit for the exams in 2023. However, the violence delayed them for nearly 20 months until the Ministry of Education rescheduled the exams to begin on Dec. 28, 2024.While the Sudanese authorities defended the decision to hold the exams under the current circumstances, other parties criticized the move. "It was necessary to hold the exams for the batch postponed until 2023, to avoid accumulation of batches," Sudanese Minister of Education, Ahmed Khalifa, said in a statement. He noted that arrangements were in place for conducting the exams in safe regions and at 46 overseas centres across 15 countries hosting Sudanese refugees.However, the RSF voiced rejection to the decision to hold the exams. "Holding the exams in certain areas and excluding other states of the country is part of policies tending to fragment Sudan and demonstrates a disregard for the future of thousands of students," the RSF said in a statement on Saturday. The non-governmental Sudanese Teachers Committee said that students in eight of the country's 18 states will not be able to sit for the exams, while those in six states could only attend partially.However, according to a report by the General Administration of Sudan Examinations on Thursday, exams are being conducted fully in only four states -- Northern State, Red Sea, Gedaref, and Kassala -- and partially in eight others, including Khartoum, River Nile, White Nile, Blue Nile, North Darfur, Gezira, Sinnar, and North Kordofan. Six states, including South Darfur, Central Darfur, West Darfur, East Darfur, South Kordofan, and West Kordofan, are completely excluded.Social media in Sudan was abuzz with the story of student Shams Al-Hafiz Abdullah, who travelled 2,662 kilometres from a Sudanese refugee camp in the Chadian city of Abeche to Al-Damar city in River Nile State in northern Sudan to sit for the exams. Khalifa, the education minister, received the student and her mother at the entrance to Al-Damar on Friday, saying her story was "inspirational" for students, according to the ministry's media office. Local media also published an inspiring story of 31 students from El Geteina, a city located some 100 km south of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, who used traditional boats to cross the White Nile to sit for the exams in the Al-Duwaim city on the western bank of the White Nile, defying the ongoing war and the RSF, which controls the city.Sudan has been gripped by a devastating conflict between the SAF and the RSF since mid-April 2023, which claimed at least 29,683 lives and displaced over 14 million people, either inside or outside Sudan, according to the latest estimates by international organizations.

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Sudan's certificate exams kick off amid protracted conflict

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