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Rabat – Medical students in Rabat marked on Thursday the 10th month of their protests, calling for essential reforms in their education and training. This sustained movement emerged in response to the government’s reduction of medical study duration from seven years to six, a change that students argue compromises the quality of their education and the future of healthcare in Morocco.
The students organized a protest outside the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rabat on Thursday, chanting slogans and wearing doctor coats with the slogans “Till when?” and “Save medical students.”
Morocco World News spoke to Ayman Mellouki, Vice President of the Medical Students Board in Rabat, who said that their primary concern is the significant reduction in clinical hours and hands-on training necessary for their development as competent doctors.
Demanding ‘proper education’
“They [students] are not asking for something political or something very complicated … They are here simply to ask for their basic right to have a proper education that will allow them to treat the moroccan patients in the future .. that will allow them to carry that big responsibility of human life,” he told MWN.
Mellouki indicated that protests have intensified as students feel the weight of an educational system that no longer adequately prepares them for the challenges they will face in their medical careers, including sufficient clinical hours and quality training.
He pointed out that previous cohorts benefited from approximately 4,500 hours of education, while incoming students will receive over 5,000 hours under the new system. “But the five promotions that are stuck in the middle, that come in a period that is very critical, are here to protest their right to benefit from the same or even better means of education,” he explained.
The current protests reflect the frustration and desperation among medical students, who have expressed their dismay at the lack of adequate response from the Ministry of Higher Education.
“It is very much unfair for these students to find themselves yelling in the streets for over ten months without having any proper response from the ministers [of health and education] or from the people responsible in our country,” Mellouki lamented. The absence of constructive dialogue has left students feeling unheard and neglected.
“All the things that were offered were not enough to convince these students to go back and complete their studies. And that’s what making these protests and this boycott last for so long, making it one of the longest … something that doesn’t make us really proud, but at the same time, something that we actually need to do,” Mellouki added.
He explained that he and other students “cannot carry that big responsibility of treating people in the future if we can’t feel ready to do so.”
Today’s protest follows another peaceful demonstration in Rabat last month that took a troubling turn when police intervened, leading to violent clashes and the arrest of dozens of students.
Shocking videos circulated on social media, showing security personnel forcibly pushing and manhandling protesters. This heavy-handed response has drawn widespread condemnation among Moroccans.
Earlier this year, Higher Education Minister Abdellatif Miraoui publicly warned of the potential consequences of prolonged boycotts on academic schedules. “The situation does not bode well,” he said, emphasizing that continued disruptions hinder efforts to salvage the academic year. Despite these warnings, the medical and dental students continued protesting.
The ministry’s attempts to address the situation, including measures proposed by the Kingdom’s Mediator, have failed to resonate with the protesting students. In a recent statement last week, the Ministry acknowledged that while no agreement has been reached, they remain hopeful that ongoing discussions will yield a resolution.
The ministry’s measures to help students make up for lost time include allowing those who completed their first-semester to sit for their second-semester exams in a special make-up session beginning on October 7.
Meanwhile, those who missed both exams are given the chance to take second-semester exams on October 4 and then sit for first-semester exams in another special session organized later.
Yet, it seems that students are adamant that their demands for better educational quality and conditions must be met before they consider returning to classes.
The next major event is a national sit-in medical students planned for October 15 in front of the Parliament.
