Sidi Ifni- The B.A. and M.A protesting teachers, who are calling for their ‘basic’ right of promotion in Rabat, have defied the Ministry of Education by going on strike for the fourth week now.
Even though the Ministry threatened to resort to operationalizing pay cuts and dismissal to penalize the striking teachers for abandoning their jobs, the strikers ignored threats and carried on protesting, taking to the streets of Rabat and demanding their rights.
Following the beatings inflicted by the security forces and police upon the peaceful protesters, several teaching unions and human rights associations have expressed their solidarity with, and support for, the protesting teachers.
“No retreat without promotion” is the motto the protesting teachers have chanted, upheld, and supported until they procure their rights.
Morocco World News talked to several protesting teachers. The majority of them have expressed their determination to carry on struggling for the attainment of their rights.
“I have been in Rabat for four weeks now. My striking days must not be in vain. Either we succeed in getting our right of promotion, or we do not return to our work,” Hind Amzil, an M.A. teacher, told MWN.
“How come previous teachers enjoyed this right, while we are denied it. Is this the principle of equal chances our government has always boasted,” she added.
According to many strikers, the Ministry, the academies and the delegations continue to provoke them by sending them alarm notes, threats, absence papers, and justification papers.
“No such thing can ever discourage us from continuing our struggle. We are here for our rights. We are peacefully protesting. We are doing this by the law. It is the Ministry to blame for aggravating our situation by withholding our promotions,” Mehdi Assli, a primary school teacher, told MWN.
“We are demoralized by being denied the right of promotion. No matter what they threaten us with, our feet will remained tied to the ground of Rabat until the last vestiges of our struggles,” he added.
On the other hand, parents and students continue to complain to the delegations, such as those of Tinghir and Ouarzazate, for the absence of their teachers.
Several parents associations condemn the apathy of the Ministry in dealing with the case. According to the parents, this should be dealt with so that students can continue their education with their teachers.
“Our students are victims. They have not been studying anything for three weeks now. At the same time, we are staunchly supporting the teachers’ strikes. It is the Ministry, not teachers, to blame for leaving our students without their teachers,” Hamza Abouhna, a father of three from Tinghir, told MWN.
“This is unbearable. Our students are deprived of their right to education. The Ministry must do something about it,” he added.
The protesting teachers continue to strike despite the beatings, injuries and insults from the authorities.
While distinguished teaching unions, such as FDT and UGTM, turn a blind eye to the suffering of these teachers, the strikers have had recourse to FNE and ODT to claim their confiscated right. “The national unions must go to hell. They are corrupt. They left us in the lurch. They are traitors”, several M.A. teachers told MWN.
“If we rely on these unions to resolve our file, we will stay as we are,” they added.
It is worth mentioning that December 11th, Human Rights Day, has been chosen by the National Coordination of the Teachers Excluded from Promotion to take to the streets of Rabat, harshly condemn the beatings and bloodshed inflicted upon them, and to reiterate their calls for well-deserved promotion.
© Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or or redistributed.