Thursday there was a strike for the Biomedical Department students in Shorouk Academy, something I'm really proud of since I'm one of those students. Though we didn't have all our goals fulfilled, but it is a good step anyway esp there was a not-so-bad cooperation between the Deparment Head Prof Osama Hassan and we the students.
It all began with firing three of the assistants in the department. Officially the head didn't affirm this. But from sources inside the academy, the owner Dr. Mohamed Farid Khamis, ordered them to sign their resignation. There was graphic evidence that these three assistants gave private classes with opposition to the Academy general policies that all extra-curriculum activity must be under the direct supervision of the Academy authorities.
This decision started some opposition among us (personally not me, I didn't like those fired people), but anyway we decided to unite under several causes and do a general strike to force some kind of action.
Here some of the pics:
You can check more at http://www.flickr.com/ircpresident and will search for other students who will have any available material. Stay tuned.
Our demands can be summarized in the following:
1. Returning the assistants (due to the shortage in the academic staff, other than that I don't personally like their way of dealing with us)
2. One day off vacation since it is hard to only have Friday off since many students are not Cairo residents, these usually stay in Shorouk City during the academic week and spend the weekend with their families.
3. From point one, we needed improvement to the staff and improved practical training.
During 2.5 to three hours of the strike, two assistants trying to convince that we must follow order if we wanted to be heard (Seems like governmental influence on normal people is really strong). The strike was mainly by the 3rd year students, and after 2 hours from the beginning the senior (fourth year) students joined us as well. Still we didn't move until the head of the department called for a general meeting to discuss our previously mentioned demands.
Prof. Osama was really wise in dealing with this matter. He didn't mock at the move or at the students or anything. We elected two students to be our representatives, then we had an hour discussion. Though only the third was promised to be done later this year, the first two were denied for the same shortage of resources (human as assistants and other as places). With a promise for a temporary solution like bringing staff from other departments until a permanent solution can be applied.
I want to note that this move was really criticized by our colleagues before and during the strike, but I must confess that this is really a good move. Keep going my Egyptian people.
Stay tuned for updated material.
