Grève illimitée à l’Université Sine-Saloum : les étudiants de Kaffrine et Khelcom dénoncent leurs conditions d’apprentissage
While the situation appears to be calming down in some universities across the country with the announced reopening of campuses at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, the atmosphere remains tense at the Sine-Saloum El Hadji Ibrahima Niass University (USSEIN), particularly at the Kaffrine and Khelcom campuses. For several weeks, students have been on an indefinite strike to protest their precarious learning conditions. Speaking to the press, they expressed their anger at university and state authorities, whom they accuse of inaction in the face of their repeated demands.
“We are very tired. Since 2019, we have been facing the same problems, particularly the lack of space to study peacefully, without disruptions,” lamented Moustapha Sène, president of the social committee of the Faculty of Social and Environmental Sciences at the Kaffrine and Khelcom campuses. According to him, the teaching schedule has been chaotic since the arrival of the first cohort. Students are currently housed at the Teacher Training Center (CRFPE), where they have no priority for classroom use. This situation leads to class suspensions that can last an entire week when student teachers occupy their own facilities, causing an abnormal lengthening of the study cycles. At USSEIN, obtaining a bachelor's degree can thus take five years instead of the standard three, a delay that directly impacts the disbursement of student grants.
The students are also denouncing the unusually long academic holidays, which at USSEIN sometimes stretch to nine months. These prolonged breaks complicate administrative procedures with the Scholarship Office, where students are often met with the closure of the payment platform. For the strikers, the solution lies in the immediate availability of the new facilities on the Kaffrine campus, whose construction is reportedly 90% complete. Moustapha Sène maintains that the students are ready to move into these facilities, even temporarily, to end the current academic instability. They are therefore making an urgent appeal to the Minister of Higher Education, the Prime Minister, and the Head of State to secure the release of the new buildings.
Beyond the educational aspect, the protest movement highlights a profound crisis in student services. Transportation difficulties directly impact food services, particularly during Ramadan. Students explain that the early closure of university restaurants stems from a disagreement with the authorities regarding the practice of providing takeaway meals for students without transportation. In the absence of dialogue with the administration, students say they are now dependent on the solidarity of local volunteers. Faced with this impasse, the rallying cry remains to continue the strike until they gain access to the new facilities, while many students have already left campus to return to their families.
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