HIGHER EDUCATION – Students defend various demands

Tension rises at the University of Antananarivo. Students from the École Supérieure Polytechnique d’Antananarivo in Vontovorona have disrupted public order and confronted the police to make their demands heard over the past two days. They blocked traffic and threw stones at the police, who responded by throwing tear gas bombs to disperse them. Traders were unable to carry out their activities. These same scenarios are likely to happen again in Ankatso today.

Students from the Faculty of Sciences and the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences plan to demonstrate on the esplanade of the University of Antananarivo in Anka-tso this morning. On Monday, they gave the state 72 hours to respond to their demands. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESUPRES) published the payment schedule for their equipment and their three months of scholarships to appease them, but they are not satisfied.

Claims

Their demands are multiple, including an increase in the rate of scholarships, access to drinking water, improvement of sanitation facilities, payment of unpaid scholarships during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic years, payment of five months of scholarships with equipment, improvement and modernization of university infrastructure, improvement of the quality of teaching, installation of high-speed internet connection in university campuses.

“Student grants must increase by at least 200% to match the current cost of living,” they say. Currently, these students receive 66,000 ariary for equipment and between 24,000 ariary and 48,000 ariary per month for scholarships, depending on the years of study. “They affirm that education is not a priority of the State, while scholarships represent 46% of the ministry’s budget (editor’s note: the amount of equipment and nine months of scholarships would be nearly 42 billion ariary). The increase in scholarships must go through the Finance Bill. With the new instruction on the downward revision of the credits allocated to ministerial departments this year, it is not a foregone conclusion,” indicates a source close to MESUPRES, who suspects collusion between the leaders and politicians at the eve of the legislative elections. The students don’t plan to stop there. Demonstrations are planned for today in Ankatso and Vontovorona.

Miangalya Ralitera