The issue of Moroccan medical students seems to be edging towards further escalation in the coming days.
The National coordination of medical students, dentistry, and pharmacy threatened to organize a protest in Rabat.
It announced rejecting the government's accusations against the semi-banned Al Adl wa Al Ihsane (Justice and Spirituality) group that it has been guiding protesters and pushing them forward to boycott exams.
In a press conference on Monday held at the headquarters of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights in Rabat, it said the decision to boycott exams was taken by the students in various faculties.
Spokesmen for the commission nationale des étudiants en médecine au Maroc denied moving in accordance with any political agenda.
It said the government's statement, which directly accused the Justice and Spirituality group of being behind their boycotts, was "regrettable” and disregarded students and doctors.
It also reiterated that the boycott of exams was 100 percent and stressed that 18,000 medical students remained committed to boycotting the exams, which the Ministry of Education announced they had started early last week.
The medical students are adhering to the government's response to their logistical demands before suspending their strike and exams.
The 14 measures announced by the Ministries of Education and Health in response to their demands are "mere general formulas and ambiguities.”
They left the dialogue with the government open to find a solution to this issue, reporting that they had been writing to the ministry for a year and a half now about sitting down for dialogue and presenting their demands.
However, they stressed that the government has not responded before they announced launching the protest.
The commission condemned the threatening tone of the government's statement last week in which its official spokesman, Mustafa al-Khalafi said that the government is keen to implement legal and constitutional provisions in this case.
He explained that these provisions include failing the students or dismissing those who have repeated their university year more than allowed.
