(Zaman Al Wasl)- After more than seven years, during which Libya has hosted tens of thousands of Syrians who were allowed to live there without valid passports, and without having to deal with the bureaucratic procedures of official papers, the question is now pressing: are they now treated any differently?
After a state of tension and confusion, pain and bitterness are now experienced by hundreds of Syrian students residing in Libya due to the issuing of the decision N° 1273 on October 2018 by the Minister of Education of the Government of the National Accord, which ordered the public universities to collect tuition fees of foreign students, including Syrian students, in US dollars after having been, previously, collected in local currency of negligible value.
The text of the decision, of which Zaman Al Wasl obtained a copy, states that: “the decision stems from the principle of reciprocity. The imposition of tuition fees in some countries following their own laws, on Libyans studying abroad, made it plausible for Libyan universities themselves to give foreign, unregistered students scholarships within their own terms and conditions. They have agreed to grant scholarships provided that the payment of fees does Not include the cost of living, accommodation or other fees associated with the educational process.
This new decision limited annual fees for human sciences to $ 5,000, for applied sciences the amount is estimated at $ 6,000, $ 7,000 for engineering disciplines, $ 10,000 for masters and $ 12,000 for doctoral degrees.
"Abdul Rahman" a student living in Libya since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, spoke to "Zaman al-Wasl" of his rising concerns, considering that the decision of the Libyan Minister of Education "a disaster that fell upon Syrian students."
He explained that the financial capacity of most Syrian students doesn’t not allow the payment of such huge amounts, Pointing out that the decision will complicate things for students of previous years who were registered in Libyan universities before the decision was issued, and who were paying fees in local Libyan currency, which were evidently insignificant amounts compared to what they are facing now.
Abdul Rahman stressed that this new decision, no doubt, means that the doors of graduation will be shut in the face of senior students in universities, they will lose years of study, years of pulling their own weight and working hard, and they will lose their dreams because of their inability to pay the scheduled amount.
He added: "We have resorted to Libya to survive murder and bombing; and it’s important to say that we have been very well received by the Libyan government and people during the first years here, but now this decision may be a pretext to rush students, who have been denied the completion of their studies, to ride the sea towards Europe, and to take the road of death through illegal immigration. They are pushed, after having lost hope in a dignified future and after being denied the completion of their studies, to start a new life, all over again in Europe.”
Zaman al-Wasl also met with a student from the University of Tripoli, who revealed the striving efforts of all university students to exempt the Syrians from having to pay the fees after the issuance of this decision. She said: "The number of Syrian students in the Libyan universities is estimated at more than 1,000 Syrian students from
different disciplines. Unfortunately, the decision included new students and old students as well. We are equally concerned that the implementation of this decision to pay tuition fees would extend to include primary students (primary to secondary) as well; which is expected if this crisis is not shortly addressed. "
She goes on: "We tried to make several requests and appeals to exempt us, Syrian students, from paying in foreign currency because of our incontestable suffering, and we were, initially, able to interact with them as they responded by issuing a letter from the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education to the university heads (of which Zaman Al wasl has a copy) urging the government to exempt the Syrian and Palestinian students from the decision of the minister, but the request was unfortunately turned down. They responded by issuing a decision that states that in order for a Palestinian and a foreigner to be exempted they ought to have a Libyan mother."
The student, who insisted on keeping her name secret, confirmed that " the registration of Syrian students in universities has been stopped due to their inability to pay these large amounts."
Finally, she concluded by appealing to the Libyan government on behalf of the Syrian students and the Syrian community in Libya to take into account the difficult and wrenching conditions suffered by the Syrian students and exempt them from such expensive fees just like the Palestinian students.
She concluded in a hopeful tone: "We hope that we will be relieved of these high fees, we think highly of our Libyan brothers and we know they won’t disappoint us; they never treated us Syrians as disoriented foreigners. We also ask the Syrian National Council in Tripoli to act and make every possible effort with the Libyan government to exempt us, especially that the government of the reconciliation recognizes the Syrian National Council to be a representative of the Syrians in Libya.”
Zaman Al Wasl
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