Transitional Government in Sudan Omits Christianity as School Subject

JUBA, South Sudan, September 3, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Fears that Christianity would again be omitted as a course subject in schools in Sudan were confirmed in a recent government directive, sources said.

While Islam has long been taught in schools, the head of the body responsible for curricula in Sudan sent a letter to director generals of education throughout the country on Aug. 23 omitting Christian education as a subject for primary schools, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Morning Star News.

“All the subjects not mentioned [in this letter] are to be considered omitted and will not be taught in schools,” Omer Ahmed al-Garay, director general of the National Centre for Curriculum and Educational Research (NCCER), wrote in the letter.

The Rev. Yahia Abdelrahim Nalu of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) confirmed that Christian education was again omitted from the curriculum of the new transitional government that took office following the deposing of President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

“Christian education has indeed been removed from the curriculum, and it has not been there since the independence,” Pastor Nalu told Morning Star News.

Since Sudan’s independence from the British in 1956, there have been no Christian teachers appointed by the government to teach Christianity in public schools. While the Aug. 23 directive mentions only…