Crisis in Moroccan Education

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By Adil Draissi

Rabat - Moroccan Teachers Caught Between their Right to Strike and the Right of the Child to Study and Learn

The continued marginalization of licensed school teachers with BA Degrees and Masters Degrees by the Moroccan Ministry of Education has sparked an large-scale open strike that has now reached its 15th day in Rabat.

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Clik here to view.Teachers are protesting the denial of the entitlements related to their post-graduate degrees and seeking to change the framework for university graduates to receive a direct promotion.  With the Moroccan government so far turning a deaf ear to the protests, many students are not attending their classes thus impinging on their right to study.

Striking teachers have sworn in the streets of Rabat that they are not going to go back to work without the direct promotion entitlements afforded by their license to teach and Masters Degree. However, the Moroccan police has prevented them from organizing and assembling for purposes of protest in front of the headquarters of the Moroccan Government.

Instead, Moroccan police brutally crushed the attempt at peaceful protest, infringing on the teachers’ human rights, including the right to strike and the right to freedom of speech.

The government’s response in marginalizing and ignoring teachers’ simple requests also disregards the rights of children to study. Under the present stalemate, while teachers remain in an open strike and students are denied their right to study, no decision has been taken to end this catastrophe that threatens human rights and freedom of speech in Morocco.