THE medical and dental students keep up the pressure, in the hope of reaching a new agreement with the Ministry of Higher Education satisfying their demands. Last Saturday, thousands of white coats demonstrated in front of the headquarters of the Parliament to protest against “the deaf ear policy that the ministry has adopted for more than three months, refusing to relaunch the dialogue with a view to finding a solution to the crisis of Faculties of medicine which has lasted for more than ten months.
The demonstrators, who came supported by their families, benefited from the support of several trade union organizations present during this event. It is worth quoting the National Union of Public Sector Doctorsthe National Commission of Internal and Resident Physiciansthe National coordination of engineering students in Morocco, theNational Union of Students of Moroccol’Moroccan Association for Human Rights as well as the youth of certain political parties such as the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) and the Justice and Development Party (PJD).
The students thus chanted slogans denouncing the “zero results of the ministry” while condemning “the silence of the minister in charge of the sector and his obstinacy in making unilateral decisions” risking compromising the future of more than 24,000 students. “Medical students participated massively in this demonstration as a sign of solidarity with their colleagues who suffered violence during the sit-ins organized on September 25 and 26, knowing that the cycle of repression against students continues, with travel bans students from Oujda and Marrakech who wanted to take part in this sit-in,” underlines a student member of the National Commission of Medical Students who chose to remain anonymous.
In fact, there were thousands of students who also chanted slogans condemning the arrest and prosecution of 27 students while they were free. The latter, arrested and referred last Friday September 27 before the King’s Prosecutor at the Rabat Court of First Instance, are awaiting, let us recall, their appearance before the judge on October 23 for “disobedience, non-compliance with the orders of the authorities and unauthorized assembly.
It should be noted that this sit-in comes the day after the organization of a exceptional exam session on October 4 intended for students who boycotted the first and second semester exams. A session which was also boycotted by more than 90% of students. This brought the number of exams boycotted since the start of this crisis to six tests. Note also that Saturday saw, in addition to the organization of this event, the holding of a fourth meeting between the members of the National Medical Students Commission and theInstitution of the mediatorbut the results of which have not yet been revealed by medical students.
