Ministry: Reforms Produce Higher Quality of Teaching Candidates

Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of National Education, Preschool and Sports Chakib Benmoussa reported the outcomes of reforms regarding teachers’ recruitment during a hearing session at the House of Representatives on January 3.

The minister said the reforms introduced in November 2021 by the Ministry of Education, have produced a more competitive pre-selection procedure. The new age limit of 30-years-old intends to attract young passionate graduates.

The Minister expressed his satisfaction with this year’s recruitment procedure while answering a question on the results of the 2021 procedure. He stated the competition “took place in good conditions” and “was marked with a sense of responsibility, discipline, and awareness of the importance [of the competition].”

Following the newly set criteria, 91,153 candidates took the written exams, marking a 51% drop in the recorded number of candidates, Benmoussa confirmed.

The Minister noted that 78% of the candidates hold baccalaureate or bachelor’s degrees with honors, while the percentage of candidates with honors rose from 43% in 2020 to 64% in 2021.

With the new age limit, the average age of candidates dropped in 2021 from 28-years-old to 25-years-old.

During the hearing, Benmoussa continued to defend against parliamentary opposition to the new age limit by reminding of the need for gradual “youthification” of the educational sector.

Candidates who passed the exams will join teaching training centers in their fields of study on January 10.

Reform faces opposition

Parliamentary opposition against the newly introduced age limit paints the system as unfair, as expressed by Rihhab Hanane, deputy of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces Party (USFP).

In a Facebook post, she criticized the new age limit, noting it was previously set at over 45 years. She also addressed the physical ability requirements, which exclude Moroccans with special needs, as well as the exclusion of candidates working in private institutions.

The heated debate over the new recruitment criteria overlaps with ongoing protests by contractual teachers.

Morocco’s Coordination of Contractual Teachers organizes protests to defend the rights of contractual teachers in the country. It asks for the improvement of the working conditions of contractual teachers and equal rights like their peers in public schools.

The latest protests took place over five days in October and four days in November 2021 during Morocco’s state of emergency. The status of contractual teachers goes back to 2016 when the government allowed teacher recruitment with renewable contracts instead of long-term guaranteed contracts. As of January 2022, there are over 50,000 contractual teachers with lower job security, benefits, and salaries.