Educator and women’s rights activist Nafisa Abu Bakr Al Malik, one of the pioneers of education and the women’s movement in Sudan, passed away at the age of 94 on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, in the UAE.
Her passing was announced by the Sudanese Teachers Committee on Thursday, 20 August 2026.
Born in 1932 in Rufa’a, central Sudan, Al Malik is recognised as one of Sudan’s pioneering female teachers and was among the founders of the Union of Sudanese Women Teachers in 1949. Her name was listed as a member when the union held its second general conference on 24 April 1952.
Al Malik completed her intermediate education at Omdurman International School for Girls and entered the primary school service after graduating from teachers’ training college. In 1947, she took a qualifying course at the intermediate teachers’ school for girls. She later joined the teachers’ training college as a schoolmistress and became a headmistress following her father’s death in 1969.
She later continued her education in Britain and earned a master’s degree from the University of Manchester at the age of 68, reflecting her lifelong commitment to learning and education.
Al Malik was also a prominent figure in Sudan’s women’s movement and advocated for expanding women’s access to education and employment. She belonged to a generation that helped lay the foundations of Sudan’s modern women’s movement.
She endured a painful chapter in her personal life when her son, pilot Major Akram Al-Fateh Yousif, was among 29 officers executed by the regime of Omar Al-Bashir in 1990 following an attempted coup.
Many took to social media to mourn her passing and honour her legacy as an educator and pioneering women’s rights advocate.
إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون.
— السودان زمان (@sudan_zaman) August 21, 2026
رحلت اليوم الرائدة التربوية الأستاذة نفيسة أبو بكر المليك، بعد حياة حافلة بالتربية والعطاء والعلم والأخلاق.
نسأل الله أن يغفر لها ويرحمها وأن يجعل قبرها روضة من رياض الجنة.
الأستاذة نفيسة المليك بجانب الرئيس نميري خلال احتفالات مدارس المليك عام 1973. pic.twitter.com/7itq8UQeys
رحلت اليوم نفيسة أبو بكر المليك، إحدى رائدات التعليم والحركة النسائية في السودان، وامرأة تركت أثراً عميقاً في مسيرة تعليم البنات والعمل العام.
— د/كمال الشريف (@kamalshref) August 19, 2026
ولدت في رفاعة عام 1932، وبدأت التدريس وهي في الرابعة عشرة من عمرها، قبل أن تلتحق بكلية المعلمات وتواصل مسيرتها في تعليم البنات pic.twitter.com/7NUTbDkKup
