Teachers of the academies: Why they continue to protestreporting
They are still on strike. The professors who are executives of the academy embarked on a new stoppage on Wednesday, which will continue until the end of the week. Since the beginning of the school year, parents have counted more than 45 days lost for their children. And it’s probably not over yet…
Why do these teachers hired by the Regional Education and Training Academies (AREF), from 2016, continue to go on strike, when they have obtained the same rights as their elders, directly hired by the National Education? Well, there remains one final claim: the pure and simple integration into the civil service.
According to the teachers, it is either budget items directly financed by the Ministry or nothing! «This is our one and only claim today. If there is no difference between us and our predecessors, why keep two different systems, considering that we perform the same functions,» said Rachid Tazit, member of the national coordination of contract teachers, coordinator of the Al Fida delegation of the Ministry (in Casablanca).
«Currently, the Ministry is speaking of a new unified status for all teachers. However, based on the information we have received, financially, our positions will continue to be reporting to the academies (regional directorates of the Ministry), while those of our predecessors will still depend on the central administration,» he adds.
Even if the dialogue is maintained with the Ministry, the teachers reporting to the Academy continue their strikes. «We do not want any dialogue, we have already spent two and a half years negotiating in vain, we are waiting for a decision! And then, we were forced to extend our strike due to the arrest of dozens of our colleagues, some of whom are prosecuted for crime», said the member of the national coordination. «If final judgments for crime are pronounced against them, it will be the end of the school year. We will not come back to the classroom, we will stay in the streets!» he warns.
What is it that drives teachers who are executives of academies to cling to the civil service, as long as they enjoy the same rights and benefits as their predecessors before 2016? A recruitment at the central level offers, certainly, a possibility of extended mobility at the national level, unlike the regional recruitment. Nevertheless, this is not really what upsets the most the former contract teachers.
They fear an alleged «disengagement of the central government from regional academies.» «In this case, the academies could decide to cut back on staff or reduce salaries for financial reasons,» says Rachid Tazit. It’s all about job security, because by becoming civil servants, teachers are guaranteed a job for life. In a letter addressed to teachers, the Minister of National Education, Chakib Benmoussa, promised a unified status for the entire teaching profession, with a «global and radical» revision. But will he succeed in gaining the support of the teachers of the academies?
Ahlam NAZIH
