COTE D'IVOIRE: PRIVATE SCHOOLS TO REOPEN, STUDENTS

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 001003

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PGOV ELAB IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: PRIVATE SCHOOLS TO REOPEN, STUDENTS
TO TAKE EXAMS

REF: ABIDJAN 944


1. (U) Based on a gentlemen's agreement between the school
owners and the Minister of Higher Education, Ivoirian private
schools will reopen on June 20. The owners have kept the
schools closed since May 17 to protest the USD 44 million in
arrears owed them by the government (reftel). The Ministry
of Higher Education had offered USD 7 million towards the
arrears, bringing the total owed down to USD 37 million, but
the owners demanded USD 24 million to reopen the schools.
During negotiations the week of June 6, the private school
owner's association, Conference des Ecoles Superieures et
Universites Privees "Confesup" (Association of Private Higher
Education Schools and Universities) and the Minister of
Higher Education, Fofana Zemogo, reached a compromise. The
schools will reopen Monday, June 20, and the government will
pay USD 16 million, bringing the total arrears down to USD 28
million.


2. (U) No formal agreement was signed between the parties.
Each side is acting on a gentlemen's agreement: the
government has only promised to pay USD 16 million before
June 20, and the school owners have only promised to open
their doors on June 20 if that happens.


3. (U) For students, if the agreement is honored, they will
be able to complete the school year and take their exams.
Because the Ivoirian system is based on the French model,
students must pass exams to advance to the next level of
education. For private school students, their exam date has
been pushed back by two weeks to allow them time to prepare.
Public school students will take their exams as originally
scheduled, beginning June 27.


4. (U) Students in the North also recently received good
news. The Minister of National Education, Michel Amani,
finally rescinded his December 2004 decree prohibiting school
administrators from re-entering the north, and thus
preventing Northern students from taking their final exams.
International organizations such as the UN, OCHA, and UNICEF,
criticized the decree as a petty act of revenge that only
punished the children. Over the intervening months, despite
the Minister's decree, NGO,s have kept many northern schools
open and students have continued to attend classes. With the
decree rescinded, the northern students will sit for exams in
August of this year.


5. (SBU) COMMENT: This recent incident only further
illustrates the government's cash flow problems. It is
becoming a familiar pattern: the government runs up arrears
to its citizens, they go on strike, and eventually there is a
compromise agreement for partial payment and a return to
work. Thus far, the government has been fortunate that these
groups of its citizens have been willing to negotiate.
Despite their striking and posturing, Ivoirian workers seem
to realize they will never be paid in full, and, so far, they
have been willing to settle for half measures. This is
further evidence of the long-term rot that is attacking the
Ivoirian economy and body politic at all levels. END
COMMENT.
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