At a time when the global community is mobilizing to secure and advance girls’ education as a fundamental human right, a regressive crisis is unfolding in Dongola, Northern State of Sudan. “Al-Saraya” Girls’ Higher Secondary School, a historic beacon of female empowerment and education, is facing an unprecedented government-sanctioned encroachment. Ten fully functioning classrooms and administrative offices have been abruptly seized and decommissioned to make way for a local museum.
This local policy introduces a deeply disturbing paradox to the international community: Should the future of young women be buried under the pretext of preserving the past?
By systematically shrinking the physical infrastructure of this vital institution, the Ministry of Education is effectively forcing a drastic reduction in female student enrollment. This reduction deals a devastating blow to young girls, particularly those from marginalized rural villages who rely heavily on the school’s boarding facilities to escape systemic barriers and pursue higher education.
The visual reality of this crisis is stark. Students were recently forced to sit for their critical final examinations under makeshift tents in scorching, hazardous desert heat. This occurred after their safe, solid classrooms—which were completely renovated and funded through grassroots community donations and alumni networks—were aggressively emptied of desks and blackboards to prepare for the museum layout.
This is no longer a localized administrative dispute; it is a direct violation of the right to education in a region already vulnerable to instability. Global human rights advocates, international educational organizations, and defenders of women’s empowerment must cast their eyes on Dongola. True culture cannot be built on the scaffolding of enforced ignorance, and history cannot be celebrated by dismantling the future of the girls who are meant to write it.
