Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of National Education has decided to deduct salaries from contractual teachers who are currently on strike, in an effort to bring the strikes to an end and enable students to return to a normal academic life.
The decision has sparked outrage among the unions, who see it as a violation of workers’ right to go on strike.
In a letter to the Ministry’s General Treasury reported by converging sources, the Secretary General said his department sees “no issue” with deducting salaries from teachers with “unexcused absences.”
According to the Minister of Education Chakib Benmoussa, no less than 90,000 contractual teachers, representing 30% of the total workforce in the education sector, are currently striking.
The teachers are striking to protest the new “unified statute” for civil servants, which they say ignored their demands related to pay and work conditions.
The National Teaching Union rejected the bill, describing it as a “unilateral approach,” lamenting that the statute “consolidates the human resource crisis in the education and training system.”
On top of the list of contractual teachers’ demands is the need for the government to issue an official apology for “all arbitrary actions and violations faced by the teachers during the demonstrations.”
They are also demanding an increase in their monthly salaries, to bring them up to at least MAD 5,000.
The strikes have ignited worry in parents, as their children miss dozens of classes that have been canceled due to the strikes. Some are booking private lessons for their children in order to make up the gap, while disadvantaged families find themselves desperately hoping for the end of the arm wrestling between the government and teacher unions.
The strike has affected students amid other problems affecting the academic system, including the rising prices of textbooks.
