Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – The contentious case of contractual teachers is making a comeback. In a tweet published Friday, June 25, the Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani announced the council of government’s approval of a new draft law 01.21 on Thursday, June 24, 2021.
The bill aims to include “instructors of regional education and training academies,” better known as contractual teachers in the civil pension scheme.
The new bill guarantees the civil pension scheme (RPC), created by law 011.71 and managed by the Moroccan Pension Fund (CMR), for all contractual teachers.
Critics remain wary of the new bill and strikes and protests, often opposed by law enforcement, call for integration into the public sector and higher wages. Protestors have also demanded the right of assignment to all areas of the country.
The protestors argue that contract teachers have been denied civil service benefits and have remained at the mercy of regional delegates.
Many teachers view the constant battle for teacher’s rights in the Ministry of Education as a never-ending battle.
The ministry has denounced the salary deductions that instructors have faced in several regions, the legal proceedings against some of their members, among many other demands.
According to the ministry, “The strategic objective of the contracting scheme is the privatization of education and the withdrawal of the so-called public office”.
The demands vary but all come down to the same overarching claim: the government must adopt the system of direct recruitment of teachers within the framework of the public service by canceling the contracts which bind them to the regional academies.
The plight of the contractual teachers‘ movement has stirred rally cries of solidarity across the nation.
Since 2013, the Department of Education and its departments have been hiring fewer instructors than the number of retirements. In 2017, the Moroccan government launched a public sector employment program as part of a contractualization plan.
The uprising – manifesting as protest marches in different regions of the country – have been ongoing since 2019 and did not go unnoticed as they underlined their unwavering efforts and brought attention to their hardship.
The contractual teachers consider this week the first victory as the first of many victories to come.
