5k+refugees sit Sudanese certificate exams in Chad

The postponed Sudanese certificate exams for Sudanese refugee students concluded on Tuesday in Adré in eastern Chad, with 5,260 students having participated. The exams were conducted under the joint supervision of Sudanese and Chadian teachers, amid security and logistical arrangements to ensure the smooth running of the process. Sources in the education sector reported that the exam papers will now be sent to Sudan in the coming days in preparation for the start of the marking process.

Official sources say that 5,260 students participated in the exams. Teachers working within the supervision and monitoring staff confirmed that while 6,453 students were registered for the exams, 232 students were absent.

The exams were conducted under the joint supervision of Sudanese and Chadian teachers, amid security and logistical arrangements to ensure the smooth running of the process. Sources in the education sector reported that the exam papers will be sent to Sudan in the coming days in preparation for the start of the correction procedures.

In addition, the competent authorities have begun transporting students from the exam centres to their camps in the city of Adre, in a move that ended one of the most prominent educational stations for Sudanese refugees in Chad this year.

The postponed Sudanese certificate exams were held in seven centres in Chad with the support of UNICEF and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The centres where the exams were held included the Friendship Schools in the capital N’Djamena and the city of Abcha, while refugee students sat for the exams in seven centres, three in the city of Adre, one each in Hajar Hadid, Goz Beida, Gereida and Iriba.

UNHCR estimates from June indicate that some 1.2 million Sudanese have sought refuge in eastern Chad, mostly after fleeing intensifying violence in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan.

Resentment

A number of students expressed their displeasure at the beginning of the exams because their names were dropped from the seating numbers, while others complained about the high fees charged for obtaining a seat number. Sources indicated that the conditions of these students were being addressed.

“Students are happy to sit for exams, and they are focused on higher education, especially in light of the lack of a clear vision regarding the continuation of studies due to the lack of funding for the educational process, as there are less than 10 days left until the start of student registration for the new academic year,” observers say, lamenting that “the disruption of the school year will lead students and teachers to resort to professional mining in the desert to die in its shafts, or illegal migration to Europe with the increase in drowning cases in the Mediterranean Sea.”