Protests Loom as Trainee Teachers Feud Remains a Hot Issue

The feud between Moroccan trainee teachers and the Ministry of National Education is still burning hot.

After a two week strike, the teachers’ protests have taken on an intense tone following the publication of the final results of the recruitment exams, which recorded the failure of 150 teachers.

The National Trainee Teachers Coordination announced the organization of a national march for Sunday, January 29 in Rabat.

The teachers coordination is disputing the results, accusing the ministry of deliberately failing their colleagues in an act of retaliation against the trainee teachers after a difficult year of struggle and protest.

In a press release published this weekend, the coordination promises to “to resume all forms of protest until all the trainees of the promotion are hired and the two decrees are put back on the table of social and sectorial dialogue.”

The two decrees in question, which were adopted by the government back on July 23, 2015, were the spark that ignited the trainee teachers’ protests all over the country last year.

These ministerial decrees reduced the training allowances from 2.450 to MAD 1.200. They also separated training from recruitment, which led to continuous strikes during the teachers’ training period.

An agreement was finally reached after several rounds of negotiations between student representatives, trade unions and the Ministry of Interior.

The agreement was signed back in April 2016 and it promised the resumption of the teachers’ training, a final examination in December and a direct recruitment exam in January 2017, after which all trainee teachers were to be assigned to their workstation before February 1.

The national march was the result of a meeting of the coordination’s council last Sunday, during which representatives made the decision to exchange their teachers’ coats for protest slogans.

The coordination will also organize a press conference for Wednesday, to denounce what it sees as an “elimination” of some teachers and to urge the press who attended the signing of the agreements to assume their responsibilities as witnesses of the implementation of these agreements.”

The Coordination calls for the boycott of classes and the preparation for protests in the streets signals a return to the starting point between trainee teachers and national education.

Source :Morocco World News