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Doha – In a stern warning to the striking medical and dental students, Morocco’s Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, Abdellatif Miraoui, has called for an immediate end to the three-month-long strike to save the current academic year.
Addressing the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Cultural and Social Affairs at the House of Councilors today, Miraoui emphasized the urgency of the situation.
“Stop the strike, resume classes, and then we will discuss,” Miraoui urged the students, expressing the ministry’s willingness to open a dialogue once the strike is called off. The minister highlighted that the students have a responsibility to save the academic year, suggesting that first-semester exams could be rescheduled for July.
Miraoui pointed out that various segments of society, including elected officials, deputies, professors, political parties, unions, parents, NGOs, and associations, have been regularly inviting the students to resume their studies. “I call on the striking students to be wise before it’s too late, as their fate and future depend on it,” he stressed, alluding to the possibility of a blank year.
To avoid the worst-case scenario, the minister urged the striking students to return to their medical schools before the end of April, a deadline beyond which the academic year cannot be salvaged.
He also called on the “disruptors” driven by undisclosed or political motives to stop provocations and refrain from creating obstacles for those who want to end the strike and take the exams.
The ministry is open to serious dialogue regarding the students’ grievances, but only after the resumption of classes, Miraoui vowed, arguing that the reform of medical education is in the best interest of the kingdom.
Read also: Moroccan Medical Students Continue to Boycott School Despite Suspensions
The striking students are protesting against the reduction of medical education from seven to six years, maintaining that this change will compromise the quality of education. However, both Miraoui and his counterpart at the Ministry of Health, Khalid Aït Taleb, have dismissed these claims as “completely false.”
During the committee meeting, members of the House of Councilors appealed to Miraoui to withdraw the disciplinary measures taken against the strike coordinators and open a dialogue with the students to resolve the crisis. The minister reiterated his call for the students to end the strike, promising to address all issues once classes resume.
Miraoui warned that after the end of April, the situation will enter a dangerous zone that could lead to a blank year. He urged the striking students to exercise restraint, use reason, and stop preventing their peers from continuing their studies.
The minister expressed readiness to resolve all the persisting problems facing medical students across Morocco, arguing that all the planned reforms are in the best interest of students.
Regarding the zero grades given to the striking students in the first semester, Miraoui said, “The students have a retake session in July to address the issue of grades.”
