Examinations for more than 20,000 students at the University of Bahr el Ghazal began Monday, a week after staff suspended a six-month strike over unpaid salaries.
The strike ended following a promise by Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel, vice president for the economic cluster, that civil servants would be paid on the 24th of each month.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday at the university campus in Wau, Vice Chancellor Prof. Erneo Bernardo Ochi said the exams were proceeding smoothly.
“These examinations started with the supplementary and the substitutes and are going on well despite some challenges,” Ochi said.
He said lectures for first-year students would begin on April 25, while senior classes would resume in June.
“The lectures for the first-year class will start on April 25, and for the senior classes in June, God willing,” he added.
Joseph Lual Dario, chairperson of the university’s teaching staff, confirmed the start of the examinations.
Dario said lecturers allowed the exams to proceed out of sympathy for students, following the vice president’s pledge to ensure timely salary payments. However, he urged the government to honor its commitment to avoid further arrears.
Dario warned that failure to implement the promised payments would result in renewed industrial action.