“Since yesterday (Wednesday), we have not been teaching, we have decreed 72 hours of cessation of educational activities and the main problem which is at the origin of this situation is the completion of the construction of the new restaurant and the new medical service,” said Adama Sow Kébé, president of the UIDT Student Association Conference.
“A seminar was held in Saly last May, where the minister made commitments, so that the academic calendar could be stabilized,” recalled Mr. Kébé.
Among these measures that he announced also included support for universities with infrastructure, both educational and social.
According to him, these “time-bound” commitments consisted, first of all, of supporting the universities at the start of the school year in October, “something which has not been done”.
“We, as students, were received on September 26 at the ministry and the commitments were reiterated by the minister,” added the president of the UIDT Student Association Conference.
Adama Sow Kébé notes that the President of the Republic Bassirou Diomaye Faye had committed to decree an emergency plan for higher education.
“Certainly, we are, in principle, in the 2024-2025 academic year since October, but some are still in 2023-2024,” he continued, while admitting that “the State makes efforts so that we enter the normal years”.
The leader of the student structure did not fail to ask the authorities to “accelerate the work on the UIDT social campus”.
He announces that 1,494 new high school graduates will be welcomed at the UIDT next Sunday. A workforce which, added to the number of students already present at the university, will “inevitably pose problems, both in terms of accommodation and catering”, he warned.
Questioned by the APS on this mood swing, the director of the Regional Center for University Works of Thiès (CROUS-T), Serigne Mbackè Lô, claimed to have received the students on Wednesday for a broad discussion on their slogan.
“The word [d’ordre] mainly concerns the delay observed in the delivery of the sites, these are the pavilions with 1,000 beds and a restaurant with 1,000 seats,” reported the director of CROUS-T.
Mr. Lô, however, clarified that these projects are not the only ones being undertaken by the State of Senegal. ”These are global projects which concern practically all universities in Senegal and the delay is not only observed in Thiès,” he noted.
-He also emphasizes that the Thiès construction sites are “the most advanced”.
“We understand the students, because we know what they are going through in terms of insufficient places in terms of accommodation,” he says.
Serigne Mbacké Lô said “tried as much as possible to make them understand that the solution is not at (his) level, and that it does not fall within his prerogative”.
These projects are being monitored by the State of Senegal, he said.
“The specific Thiès project is at a level of 90%. What remains is practically the installation of the equipment, (of which) a good part is already on site,” he reassured.
According to him, equipment from other universities involved in similar work was stored in Thiès. Their delivery to their recipients started last week, he said.
The director of CROUS-T informed that the structure he directs has undertaken, with its own funds, work to double the capacity of the university restaurant.
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