The Autonomous Union of Higher Education Teachers (SAES) of the University of Sine Saloum El Hadji Ibrahima Niass (USSEIN) plans to go on strike on January 20 and 21, 2025.
A press release informs that “this decision comes after several outings to alert the authorities to the situation that the temple of knowledge is going through”.
“The USSEIN is going through major difficulties which risk destroying all the efforts made so far to put it in place. The first relates to the delay in the delivery of its infrastructures still under construction or at a standstill. Since the start of teaching in 2019, USSEIN has carried out its educational activities in borrowed premises that have become dilapidated and have very limited capacities, despite a significant annual increase in its number of students.
Added to this, the loss since October 2024 of the vast majority of classrooms on the Fatick educational campus, in an advanced state of disrepair, in view of the conclusions of the civil protection commission. To date, this campus operates with only three (3) classrooms for 1490 students distributed between 4 departments and 12 licenses. This difficult situation affects to varying degrees all 3 USSEIN campuses (Fatick, Kaolack and Kaffrine) and poses the urgent need for delivery of the projects without delay,” deplores the SAES-USSEIN coordination.
-The other difficulty for USSEIN, specifies the press release, relates to the amount of the subsidy allocated by the State, renewed for three years and which does not cover salaries or educational and research expenses. “Indeed, for the first time in its history, USSEIN is faced with the unanimous rejection of its budget by the members of its Board of Directors meeting on Friday January 17, 2025. This negative vote by the administrators is the consequence of the observation of an inadequacy between the subsidy allocated by the State of Senegal and the requirement for a professional training offer adapted to the world of employment, recommended by the authorities. This budget is in contradiction with decree 2012-1269 of November 8, 2012 on the financial regime of universities which provides in article 7 that: “the budgets of universities and other public higher education establishments are voted in real balance, overall and by section”. In addition, it excludes the support of temporary workers who are essential to the system of our young institution, lacking human resources making it difficult for the correct conduct of educational and research activities in a university that does not currently have any laboratory. . As a reminder, USSEIN has a staff of 48 permanent teachers for a total of 7,000 students,” the press release states.
Faced with this situation, these teachers decided to decree a warning strike of “48 hours on January 20 and 21, 2025” and demand “the delivery as soon as possible of all USSEIN construction sites, as announced by the MESRI during its last visit (October 2024), the increase in the State allocation, correlated to the increasing number of students affected each year to USSEIN”, still informs the press release.
Concluding, the SAES-USSEIN “calls national and international opinion as witness and releases all its responsibilities in the face of the risks of worsening disruptions with unforeseeable educational and social consequences” and asks all comrades “to maintain strong mobilization in the face of an unprecedented situation which calls into question the survival of our young and promising university.”
