Senegal: Graduate group urges govt to address unemployment
July 26, 2011A group of unemployed graduates in Senegal is calling on the government of President Abdoulaye Wade to address the unemployment situation in the country.
The Association of Unemployed Senegalese Graduates at a press conference on Monday in Dakar lamented the difficulties graduates from the country’s tertiary institutions face in finding employment after school.
“We called the press conference today to show to the Senegalese population our national and international struggle,” said Mbaye Diouf, a founding member of the association of unemployed graduates, which currently has over two thousand members.
Diouf, who is studying for his PhD at the Cheihk Anta Diop University, emphasized the unemployment situation of PhD students describing it as unbearable.
“Imagine how hard it is going to school, having a family and not working?” he asked.
Official statistics show that the number of unemployed graduates in Senegal is about four hundred thousand, but analysts say the figures could be much higher.
Unemployment amongst the youth population is about 50 percent, according to the CIA factbook on Senegal.
Every year the country’s universities graduate hundreds of students, who enter the job market with no guarantee of finding employment.
Diouf said the group plans to hold a peaceful protest at the Place Independence to push forward their request for jobs for graduates.
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