By Jamal Saidi
By Jamal Saidi
Morocco World News
Casablanca, September 10, 2012
Mohamed El Ouafa, the minister of education, on Sunday said he is not withdrawing his decision regarding the prohibition of teachers affiliated to the public sector to tutor in private schools. His response was directed at the professionals of the private sector who warned they would not stand idly by.
The minister said there are two reasons upon which he based his decision. The first is that ministerial decree 109 is no longer valid. The decree was signed by former Prime Minister Idriss Jettou. By virtue of this decree, professionals of private educational institutions promised to rely on 20 percent of the public sector’s human resources over 4 years. A period during which the private sector should train its own teachers, he added. The minister pointed out that the professionals could not live up to their commitment.
Having said that, the minister is explicitly rejecting the reasons stated by representatives of the private sector who claimed that the minister’s decision contradicts the aforementioned decree, a decree that allowed teachers to work eight hours per week in private schools.
The minister went on to say that the second reason is linked to findings of a research study conducted by the ministry of education. The study reveals that private schools have reached good results through employing the same teachers of the public sector. The minister concluded that the ills of public education are not restricted to the adopted pedagogy or infrastructure, but rather to a disorder prevailing within the educational system itself, stressing that the state train teachers and pay their salaries, only to serve the owners or private schools in their aim to make more profits.
The Minister of national education, had decided to temporarily eliminate public teachers’ right to take part in private tutoring.
The Union for Private Education and Vocational Training had already announced its intention to take vindictive measures against the ministry, warning that massive protests against the decision are likely to take place.
Arm wrestling between the ministry and the union has not come to an end yet. Meanwhile the future of Moroccan students is blurry amidst the ongoing failure of the country’s educational policies.
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