Christianity as a subject may never be taught in Sudanese primary schools following its omission from the country’s school curricula.
The omission was discovered in a recent letter by National Centre for Curriculum and Educational Research (NCCER) to schools.
NCCER’s letter dated August 23 was signed by its Director General, Omer Ahmed al-Garay.
Morning Star News reports that while Islam has long been taught in schools in the country, the letter omitted Christian education as a subject for primary schools.
“All the subjects not mentioned [in this letter] are to be considered omitted and will not be taught in schools,” the letter said.
Reverend Yahia Abdelrahim Nalu of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) confirmed the omission from the curriculum of the new transitional government.
The transitional government seized power from former 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,” Reverend Nalu told Morning Star News.
The newspaper reports that since the country gained independence from Britain in 1956, no Christian teachers hired by the government to teach Christianity in public schools.
Reverend Nalu said Christians who obliged to study Islamic Religion are usually forced to convert to Islam.
Some Christian leaders have protested the NCCER’s letter excluding Christianity as a subject from the curricula.
“This behaviour is unacceptable from the ministry of education,” Christian schoolteacher Dawood Ishayia wrote on his Facebook page.
Another Christian leader criticized the Ministry of General Education for failing to take followers of Christ into account when making decisions that affect them. Botros Badawi Ali, Christian advisor to the minister of Religious Affairs, called for the establishment of a specialised administration within the NCCER.
“Before talking about Christian education, there must be special department within the national center to develop Christian Education Curricula for both primary and secondary levels,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Badawi Ali canvassed the appointment of Christian education teachers throughout Sudan in his Facebook post on August 28.
Sudan ranked 7th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
