RADAR

SUDAN, KHARTOUM: THE COMBONI COLLEGE REOPENS

Classes are resuming at Comboni College, which was vandalized and badly damaged during the war that is still going on in other parts of the country. This is a sign of hope for the millions of people living in Khartoum who are endeavouring to rebuild their city.

BY Fr Jorge Naranjo, MCCJ

WHEN WAR broke out in Khartoum on 15 April 2023, the Comboni College was a thriving educational institution. There were 1,055 pupils enrolled in the primary school, 827 students attending the secondary school, and 786 taking courses at the College of Science and Technology.

Within hours, their lives were upended. Students, their families, teachers, and the Comboni community were forced to flee the capital in search of safety as fierce fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ravaged the city, destroying buildings and infrastructure and shattering the hopes and dreams of thousands.

Khartoum remained under RSF control until March 2025, when the SAF recaptured the city, paving the way for the gradual return of residents and the start of the long process of reconstruction.

When we were finally able to return to Comboni College, the scene that met our eyes was heartbreaking: all the electrical wiring across the campus had been ripped out; the plumbing system had been destroyed; computers, air conditioners, and digital equipment had been looted; and the walls were riddled with bullet holes and evidence of artillery strikes. In the courtyard – where generations of children had played, laughed, and dreamed – the bodies of RSF fighters killed during the battle still lay.

Primary and Secondary Schools reopen

Yet, amidst such devastation, the Comboni missionaries realised how fortunate they had been. Unlike many nearby buildings – reduced to rubble, burned down, or severely damaged – the main structures of Comboni College were still standing. Having survived the war, they could serve as the foundation for a new beginning.

On Saturday, 4th July 2026, after more than three years of forced closure, Comboni College in Khartoum announced that its primary and secondary schools would reopen in September for the 2026–2027 academic year, welcoming students as it always did.

The College of Science and Technology – which had been forced to relocate its operations to Port Sudan in November 2023 – is seeking funding to rehabilitate its facilities in the capital, with the hope of resuming academic courses in 2027.

The reopening of Comboni College in Khartoum—an institution that has educated generations of Sudanese and South Sudanese students since its founding in 1929—represents far more than just the resumption of school activities: it is a tangible sign of hope for the nearly six million inhabitants of Khartoum State as they work to rebuild their city, their communities, and their future. 

Source: Comboni.org