Rabat – Moroccan parliamentarian Hanane Atarguine has accused some French mission schools in Morocco of taking actions that are against Islam and Morocco’s religious values.
A member of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), the MP addressed a question to Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita to ask him about the measures taken by the government to avoid similar acts that are against national values.
The question comes after a teacher in Balzac, a French mission school based in Kenitra near Rabat was found to be teaching school children about LGBT+ issues.
The case sparked outrage among Moroccan parents who expressed anger about the school’s promotion of homosexuality.
“These actions have angered the families, who did not expect that education spaces in which their children study would turn into places for settling political accounts and carrying out unreasonable behavior,” the MP said.
Morocco’s penal code punishes same-sex relations, with Article 489 stipulating sentences ranging from six months to three years in prison.
The Agency for French Establishments (AEFE) reportedly decided to suspend the teacher for “ a serious breach” in her teaching practices, according to RFI.
The MP also accused some schools of displaying Morocco’s divided map, stressing that the same schools are urging some workers to perform their prayers in isolated places far from their workplaces.
The situation comes amid lingering divergences on a host of issues of strategic importance for both countries, including France’s visa restrictions against Moroccans as well as its vague pledges regarding the Western Sahara dispute.
Despite France’s reassurances about normal ties with Morocco, a Moroccan government source disputed the European country’s claims.
“Relations are neither friendly nor good anymore, neither between the two governments nor between the Royal Palace and the Elysee,” the self-described pan-African magazine Jeune Afrique quoted the Moroccan official as saying in March.
