Rabat – Police have arrested an Arabic language teacher after a high school student accused him of sexual harassment in the city of Tetouan in northern Morocco.
Moroccan Outlaws 490, a national non-profit social change movement, announced the incident, saying that student victims of sexual harassment were “under pressure” to withdraw complaints against the teacher.
The teacher works at the Khadija Oum Al Mouminine high school in the city of Tetouan, where he allegedly sexually harassed several students.
“However, they will not give up their right to legal action to achieve justice and ensure that this teacher is punished,” stated Moroccan Outlaws 490. The group previously spoke about the case, citing that the female students were afraid to speak against the teacher.
However, the group plastered the students’ allegations on the school’s walls, in the streets, and on Tetouan’s buses.
The Moroccan collective also tweeted a public announcement containing the contact information of the accused teacher and urging the public to support the minor girls in their case.
The movement then followed up by sharing statements from neighbors and students of the teachers, who preferred to speak anonymously regarding their experiences.
Morocco’s social media users have been urging for more protection for school students amid the increase in similar cases of sexual harassment by educators.
Recently, students in several schools, including higher education departments, used the “Sex for Grades” movement to expose sexual harassment cases within universities and education establishments.
In February, a Moroccan court sentenced a professor to one year in prison in Tangier for his involvement in the initial “sex for grades scandal,” a case linking professors to sexual harassment against students.
Morocco’s Court of Appeal in Settat, near Casablanca, also pronounced a verdict against a professor for his involvement in the “sex for grades scandal.”
