Academic union agrees to resume contact teaching

The higher education teachers’ union Syndicat Autonome de l’Enseignement Supérieur (SAES) has agreed to follow the decision by the education authorities to resume classroom teaching in universities from 1 September.

Following a national conference held at the University of Thiès, Malick Fall, general secretary of the SAES, announced that the union’s branches at the universities of Ziguinchor, Kaolack, Bambey, Thiès, Dakar, Saint-Louis and UVS, the Virtual University of Senegal, had indicated they would comply, reported the Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (APS).

“SAES has decided in line with the decisions taken by the education authorities, to comply with these decisions,” he said. “That means that if tomorrow university councils and management boards recommend that courses will start again on 1 September, SAES will ask its activists to be ready to start on 1 September.”

He said the union would “work hard to ensure the safety of its members’ health”.

SAES also asked its members to follow decisions taken by universities’ committees of health. Teachers of a “certain age” and those diagnosed with two or more disorders or illnesses should have a checkup and if necessary obtain a document detailing their state of health. They could be given dispensation or special protection, reported APS.

The union has given advance notice of strike action which was still valid, and it warned it would “hold the government responsible for any deterioration in hygiene and any regrettable consequences, as well as any disruption which might arise from negligence that had been denounced many times”, reported APS. – Compiled by Jane Marshall.

This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.