ATchille, 24, wanders the corridors of the CROUS in Poitiers. Since the start of confinement, this Senegalese student in Master 2 geography, must choose between paying his rent or spending his savings to live. He made his choice: “I prefer to have something to eat. I have two months rent arrears right now, but what do you want? Anyway, I have nothing left. ”
Achilles’ journey is no different from that of many students whom I have observed in my studies. doctoral research on the condition of African student in France.
The president of the Federation of Senegalese Students and Interns in France, Thierno Laye Fall, declared in a article of World published on April 11 that many cases of African students in distress were regularly brought to his attention. The latter in fact suffer the consequences of the political decisions of their countries of origin, but also the student precariousness which reigns in their host country.
Students with a bright future
Achille, originally from Dakar, arrived in France in 2017. He is not a fellow, although he has requested it several times. He is one of some 343,000 foreign students welcomed to France in 2019, according to the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research.
This large number represents 5% of the 5,100,000 international students on the move around the world who chose France in 2019, the first non-English-speaking country to welcome non-European students.
By 2030, the number of students on the move worldwide is expected to exceed 10 million. Today, 46% of foreign students in France come from African continent. Morocco is the first country of origin for foreign students (12%), followed by Algeria (9%), China (9%), Italy (4%), Tunisia (4%), Senegal (i.e. 3%).
These international students often indicate that they wish to return to their countries to pursue prestigious careers and thus constitute a future elite involved in the political future of their respective nations.
Their transfers of funds, technologies, investment projects are also significant. As the demographer recalled Hervé Le Bras, “they will often serve as a link between their country of birth and the country where they have graduated”. However, their future seems today compromised by the health crisis.
The Impossible Return Home
On March 15, when confinement was announced, all students (including myself) rented in university residences received a letter explaining: “National regulations require us to ask you to vacate your accommodation by Wednesday, March 18, 2020.”
This very tight timetable for leaving his accommodation was further accelerated with the announcement of the President of the Republic indicating that Tuesday March 17 at noon now became the last possible time to reach his place of regular residence, that is to say say the country of origin.
What have the Senegalese, Moroccan and Togolese governments done for their student nationals in France since the start of the pandemic?
This period was experienced as particularly agonizing. For many of us, flying in a hurry is financially impossible. Remember that the amount of the scholarship varies between 300 and 600 € depending on whether the student is studying in Paris or in another region of France. The price of plane tickets taken the day before for the next day can go up to more than € 1,000. Little by little, this measure becomes impossible to follow: most flights are canceled, and the trains no longer run.
Many are the students in Poitiers and everywhere in France who mobilized through associations or residence councils to be able to keep their accommodation in the CROUS city. I personally participated in these movements to try to find solutions.
In Poitiers, the CROUS offers a bread distribution every two days to the students, and occasionally other food. Above all, the organization has set up a telephone consultation system that I and two other students supervise.
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The idea is to call all the confined students once a week to hear from them. It is during these calls that we learn that some remain several days without having anything to eat, that others have lost their “little job” but cannot benefit from partial unemployment since they were temporary workers, that some n have no help while others have heard of hypothetical support from their home country…
We asked ourselves, quite legitimately: what have the Senegalese, Moroccan and Togolese governments been doing for their student nationals in France since the start of the pandemic?
Flip-flop of Senegal
The example of Senegal is quite interesting. At the very beginning of the pandemic in China, many governments (especially Westerners) had started to repatriate their citizens. Asked about the fate of the dozen Senegalese students in Wuhan, the president of Senegal Macky Sall said this on February 3, 2020 : “Senegal does not have the means to repatriate its compatriots.”
This speech shocked many students and other observers, but paradoxically, it was praised by many Senegalese for whom repatriating them could expose the country to the virus. Senegal today has more than a thousand people infected today. Faced with the many reviews, the Sall government has finally “contemplated”To better integrate“her”Diaspora in its policy to fight the pandemic.
Presumably, if “Senegalese from outside”- in France here – fill the form for them, they can get help, “a minimum package of € 200 which can be upgraded depending on the situation of certain students (especially those directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic). ”
However, the wording is perplexing when you know that all students, like the general population in France, can be directly affected by the epidemic.
Increased financial insecurity
The fact that this aid primarily concerns non-scholarship students is also quite revealing. Normally, the rate of scholarship students (scholarships obtained from Senegal) hovers around 35 to 40% approximately. It’s hard to get exact numbers, but when you prorate between 3,900 beneficiaries announced in 2015 by the management service for students abroad and the number of students currently in France (10,974), we could estimate the number of non-scholarship recipients at nearly 7000.
If the project of the Senegalese government seems insufficient, it nevertheless has the merit of existing and counts as the only one in West Africa currently
Apart from family support, the majority of these students depend on a “little job” to live, as I have seen in my work. doctoral research. Finally, the amount of the room rent of 9m2 where most of his students are confined is 236 € / month. The amount of this aid then seems very little.
If the project of the Senegalese government seems insufficient, it nevertheless has the merit of existing and counts as the only one in West Africa currently. A Togolese student recently confided to me: “The Senegalese have the chance to fill in forms, we die here, they (the state and its components) don’t care.”My discussions with Moroccan, Nigerien and Algerian students go in the same direction. A young Nigerien said to me indignantly: “We are even asked to contribute to the national effort, to donate. ”
Overall, none of the student states of origin has a real care policy for their nationals. Who can these students turn to?
In France, limited options
In France, the Minister of National Education and Higher Education remains discreet about them. We read on the official website of the Ministry that student insecurity and the situation of French students abroad are at the heart of ministerial concerns.
But the cases of foreign students and their situation on French soil are raised only through the prism of the residence permit: “International students engaged in training in France and whose residence permit will expire soon will be the subject of specific government attention. A specific provision in the emergency bill to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic will allow the government to take all necessary measures to extend their residence permits.”
#Welcome in France
Only a few months ago, international students were cheered, “a chance for France”, welcomed under the banner #WelcomeInFrance. The main political argument was to allow a better reception for all these non-European students. These same students invited to return home and their fate remains little publicized.
The health crisis is another test for this student migration from the African continent
Today, we are trying as best we can to continue our studies normally, like our French colleagues. However, the difficulties remain very worrying. The health crisis is one more test for this student migration from the African continent. The first economic crises of the 1970s were thus accompanied by a drop in numbers of scholarships.
This health crisis, because it has economic consequences, will undoubtedly accentuate social inequalities, in particular access to digital technology for students. I’m also afraid that deconfinement does not present a real solution since some students will not be able to quickly find extra work to prepare for the start of the school year. Summer seems to be in jeopardy and looks bleak.
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