Rabat - Parents of Moroccan students who fled Ukraine to Morocco are concerned about the delay in the academic integration of their children into Moroccan institutions of higher education.

The National Association of Mothers and Fathers of Moroccan Students in Ukraine (ANPEMU) has announced it will organize a “peaceful protest” on Wednesday, August 17, in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Higher Education in Rabat. 

The goal of the protest is to denounce “the exclusion of the demands of the students returning from Ukraine,” the association said, demanding the students be granted their right to resume their studies in Moroccan faculties.

More than 8,000 students from Morocco were pursuing their academic studies in Ukraine when Russia invaded the country in February. Moroccans made up the second largest student community in the Eastern European country.

Most Moroccan college students in Ukraine were majoring in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and civil engineering.

Morocco’s Minister of Higher Education Abdellatif Miraoui announced last June that the issue of the Moroccan students returning from Ukraine will be settled in July, but not much has been done as of today.

The association recalled the promises Miraoui made regarding the integration of the students into Morocco’s faculties by having them sit through an eligibility test after Eid Al Adha.

The minister had notably said that the students would have to meet Morocco’s pedagogical requirements, given the competitive nature of the medical and engineering majors.

In addition, the ministry had noted that Morocco was looking into negotiating with Hungary and Bulgaria the possibility of hosting the Moroccan students into the two western European countries’ schools, which have a similar education system to that of Ukraine.

But none of these promises have come to fruition, prompting the association to invite the students concerned, as well as their parents, to participate in the protest on August 17 at 10 am.

Source: Morocco World News.