Unions call for national mobilization

The education sector is heading for a new crisis. This week, several coordinations – the National Coordination of the Education Sector, the Unified National Coordination of Teaching and Support Staff, the Coordination of Secondary and School Education, as well as the National Union of Education – announced the organization of a protest movement. The national strike is planned for Monday, April 22, 2024.

As Labor Day approaches, which is celebrated on May 1, the education sector is experiencing increasing tensions. A protest movement was launched by the Unified Teaching and Support Staff Coordination, the Vocational Secondary Education Coordination and the National Education Federation.

This movement plans sit-ins and demonstrations during the week of April 16, demanding a definitive solution for the suspended teachers and the full implementation of the agreement signed between the Ministry of Education and the sector union. As a result, a national strike is scheduled for April 22, 2024, with a rally in Rabat for all suspended teachers.

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Other demands, such as pensions and the strike law – the subject of discussion in the framework of social dialogue – are also the source of these movements.

For the record, Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch indicated on February 5 that the agreement signed on December 10 last year with the most representative unions in the national education sector will generate an additional cost of 17.5 billion dirhams for the state budget until 2028.

This agreement includes several measures favorable to teachers, including a salary increase of at least 1,500 DH per month for all, as well as a bonus of 1,000 DH for the third grade. It also provides exceptional promotions for primary and secondary school teachers, who will benefit from career acceleration and priority processing of pending files. Special attention will be given to teachers with high academic distinction, who will be promoted to the salary grade corresponding to the level of their degree.

In addition, the agreement provides for the regularization of teachers who have a master’s degree or equivalent, a doctorate or a university degree recognized as equivalent, who will be selected according to special procedures to access the corresponding salary class. Retroactive seniority will be granted to people promoted to the currently blocked grade. Finally, the creation of a new body for education administrators and the special status of university professors is foreseen.