Mali: pupils and students on strike for a week
The Association of Pupils and Students of Mali (AEEM) calls for deserting the benches of colleges, high schools, universities and large schools of the country this week (illustration image).
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Text by: David Baché
2 mins
In Mali, they prefer to speak of a “
national exit
” rather than a strike, to show that the whole territory is concerned.
But, since Monday, November 21, and until the end of the week, the Association of pupils and students of Mali (AEEM) does call for people to desert the benches of colleges, high schools, universities and large schools in the country.
The movement carries purely sectoral demands, but it also denotes a rising social discontent.
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Increased delays in the payment of financial allowances, infrastructure in poor condition, lack of internet connection, insecurity, overcrowded classes, lack of teachers: around twenty demands as specific as they are diverse justify this appeal by the Association of Pupils and Students of Mali to drop out of class.
The association deplores the commitments not kept
This association was created in 1990 to lead the fight against the former dictator president, General Moussa Traoré and to demand the advent of a multiparty system in Mali.
Today, the organization deplores the broken commitments of the Malian transitional authorities.
For Mamadou Maïga, spokesperson for the AEEM, “
it has been two years now that we have been advancing the same problems at the level of our supervisory ministry, commitments have been made which have not been honoured.
For two years, we have listened and dialogued, we have canceled our strike slogans, but we see that the line is not moving.
»
Grievances taken into account
The AEEM ensures that the movement is extremely followed, "
more than 90%
" according to Mamadou Maïga.
The Malian Ministry of National Education affirms, in a press release published on November 21 following a meeting with two representatives of the AEEM, that the grievances of the students are taken into account in the action plans of the government, that some answers have already been provided, and indicates "
do everything possible to find solutions
".
►Also read
: Mali: a religious leader close to the Islamists sets his conditions for the reopening of schools
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