Morocco: Hundreds of professors demonstrate in demand for government appointment

Hundreds of contracting professors in Morocco demonstrated on Sunday in Rabat to demand that the government integrate them into the public sector employment.

Three years ago, the Government launched the Public Sector Employment Program under a two-year renewable contract, which started to be implemented in the education sector.

According to Anadolu Agency, the protest march called by the “National Coordination of Teachers on whom the contractual system is imposed” (non-governmental) was attended by teachers of a number of cities, such as Fes, Meknes (north), and Oujda (northeast).

In the march, which started in front of the historical Bab El-Elou up to the parliament building, teachers chanted slogans demanding that the government renounce the contracting system.

READ: Moroccan Ministry of Employment is committed to dialogue with the unions about the strike

The demonstrators raised banners calling on the government to end the salary cuts due to the strike, and the integration of contracting teachers in the public sector employment.

The protesters chanted slogans such as “Freedom, Dignity and Social Justice” and “the people want to drop the contractual system.”

The contracting teachers have recently held a number of protests and a weeks-long general strike, while the government confirmed that it has made amendments to the law regulating their work.

In a speech before the parliament on 5 February, Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani reassured the contracting professors that they would not lose their jobs, saying that the contract signed with those who would pursue the profession of teaching is not fragile, but rather final and indefinite.