CAIRO: Around 500 Algerian students continued their second sit-in for the ninth day running in front of the Algerian embassy in Zamalek, protesting the Algerian government’s ad hoc decision not to accept their degrees.
Some protestors have also gone on hunger strike, one of them told Daily News Egypt.
Last January, some 300 students had organized a sit-in to protest, what they believed was a “random government decision not to accept diplomas acquired from the Institute for Arabic Studies and Research in which they are enrolled in Egypt.
While they were promised that the decision will be reconsidered, students claim that their grievances have not been addressed.
However, they say that the embassy is cooperating with them, mediating between them and the Algerian Ministry of Education.
The students again called on Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to intervene and “save their future.
Without a diploma the students, and previous graduates, cannot secure jobs.
“We will continue our protest until our demands are met; we want our diplomas accredited, one student said.
Security forces surrounding the protestors have, so far, been “understanding , they say.
Over 3,000 students are enrolled in the institute in question.
Spokesman for the students, Abdel Ghani Khaliq, told Daily News Egypt in a previous interview that all the students were afraid because “their future is at stake .
The Institute for Arabic Studies and Research was founded in 1952 and works under the auspices of the Arab League’s Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO). It was initially a research center and was later turned into an academic institution in 1994, offering postgraduate studies.
Students were told that the decision not to accept their diplomas in Algeria was based on allegations of corruption in the institute that have not been properly investigated.
“Despite the fact that the embassy is mediating between us and the Ministry of Education, yet nothing is happening, one of the students said, “that means we will be staying here until something does.
