After three months of strike, there were still several thousand demonstrating in the streets of Rabat on January 4. The demonstrators reject the agreement signed at the end of last year between the government and the main trade unions.
Thousands of teachers demonstrated on January 4 in Rabat to demand in particular a “fair” reform of their status in the education sector, disrupted for three months by strikes.
“In unity and solidarity, we will win our case,” chanted the demonstrators as they marched from the main artery in the center of the capital to the headquarters of the Ministry of National Education.
According to ministry figures, 50,000 teachers out of 280,000 observed a two-day strike on January 3 and 4, rejecting an agreement reached between the government and the main union centers in the sector around the status of teachers, at the origin of the crisis in October.
“The agreement was signed by unions that do not represent us”
The executive committed at the end of December 2023 to granting “the status of a public civil servant to all workers in the education sector”, therefore responding to the flagship demand of 140,000 so-called contract teachers in the public sector. recruited since 2016, according to an official press release. The government also announced an increase of 1,500 dirhams (nearly 140 euros) for all teachers whose average salary is 5,000 dirhams (around 463 euros).
However, the National Education Sector Coordination, an informal grouping of several groups, rejected the agreement. “The government is only trying to absorb the anger of teachers. We do not adhere to this agreement, because it was signed by unions which do not represent us,” explained Rabie El Gourii, a member of the Coordination. “We want fair reform for teachers,” he continued.
Since October, strikes have disrupted the education of 7 million public sector students, or 87% of Moroccan learners, according to figures from the Ministry of Education. A similar strike movement was launched in 2019 by so-called contractual teachers (recruited through contracts with regional academies) who claimed the status of public servants.
