‘Sex for Grades’: High School Victims Testify at Tetouan Court of Appeal

Rabat – High school sexual harassment victims caught up in the “Sex for Grades” scandal appeared on Wednesday before the Court of Appeal in Tetouan, northern Morocco to testify against an Arabic teacher accused of sexual harassment.

On March 8, one of the victims filed a complaint against the teacher, who worked at the Khadija High School in accordance with articles 485, 487, 503-1, and 503-2 of the Moroccan penal code, according to Moroccan Outlaws 490.

Articles 485 and 487 tackle with sexual assault of a minor by a person in authority, while articles 503-1 and 503-2 address harassment and sexual exploitation of a minor, respectively.

Moroccan Outlaws 490, a group that calls for abolishing article 490 of the Moroccan penal code which criminalizes sex before marriage, traveled to Tetouan alongside lawyer Ghizlane Mamouni to attend the court hearing and assist female victims of sexual harassment.

Following the court hearing, Mimouni said that one of their objectives is to “raise awareness about sexual harassment that women face,” especially in schools and educational institutions. Mimouni stressed that victims should be heard and encouraged to speak up.

Mimouni also criticized article 490 of the penal code – that punishes sex before marriage, saying that it “contributes to the silencing of female victims of sexual harassment.”

If victims cannot prove that a sexual assault happened, they risk getting arrested and punished, she regretted.

Moroccan Outlaws 490 had previously reported receiving multiple complaints of sexual harassment from Khadija High School students, which were ignored by the administration.

The movement has announced that the victims of sexual harassment were “under pressure” to withdraw complaints against the teacher.

The term “Sex for Grades” has been recently used in Morocco to refer to cases of sexual harassment, especially by students in higher education departments, exposing the problem within Moroccan educational institutions.

Similar cases

Since the “Sex for Grades” scandal broke, a lot of other similar incidents have surfaced.

In January of this year, a professor at Settat’s Hassan I University was sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting a female student.

The Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Settat has found a university professor guilty of similar charges.

Last month, Morocco’s Court of First Instance in Settat sentenced two professors from the University of Hassan I to a total of two and a half years in prison for demanding sexual favors from female students in exchange for good grades.

At the end of last year, another “sex for grades” controversy broke out at Morocco’s National School of Business and Management (ENCG) in Oujda.

The “Sex for Grades” scandals have sparked outrage among Moroccans and activists, who urged for more protection for students and demanded that the perpetrators be held accountable for their actions.