Mohamed, for example, a 32-year-old Moroccan who obtained a university degree in literature, was preparing to submit his candidacy file in order to pass the teachers’ competition in Morocco, then the sudden condition came.
Muhammad is now facing exclusion from passing the test, after the maximum age limit for a candidate was reduced to 30 years, instead of the 40 years that was previously applied.
Mohamed is one of the thousands of young Moroccans who were shocked by the decision announced by the Minister of Education, on the eve of the opening of nominations for the Teachers’ Match, which will be held next December.
It is expected that 15,000 teachers will be employed during this match, out of 300,000 who are expected to pass the exams.
The new conditions for accepting the nomination file for the employment of those known as contract professors or “the frameworks of the regional academies of education”, in preparation for the new educational entry, stipulated setting the maximum age for passing matches in thirty years.
The new conditions also stipulated a return to the selection system based on advantage, that is, the marks obtained by the candidate in the baccalaureate and university degrees.
The employment law in Morocco sets the age for entering the public service between 18 and 40 years, and in some cases it may reach 45 years.
Legal and constitutional controversy
The rejectionists say that these conditions constitute a violation of what is stipulated in the law and the constitution, as well as what was stated in the statute of the “academies frameworks.”
Article 4 of the statute of the “academies frameworks” stipulates, within the conditions, that the age of the candidate is not less than 18 years and not more than 40 years, and the maximum age for employment is raised to 45 years in some cases.
Reducing the age of employment in education with the re-selection has sparked a wave of strong rejection and rage among young people wishing to join the field of teaching.
Forty percent of university graduates are unable to obtain jobs due to the small number of positions designated for employment annually, and the new budget provides for the creation of more than 26,800 financial positions.
Immediately after the announcement of the new decisions, a student demonstration at the University of Sidi Mohamed bin Abdullah in Fez, in the center of the country, was launched on Friday evening, with the participation of dozens of students.
On Saturday, marches were organized in a number of cities, in which unemployed students and degree holders participated, and new demonstrations are expected to take place on Sunday.
On the other hand, the Ministry considers that tightening the conditions for selecting teachers is at the heart of the reform of the teaching system.
Behind this decision is the Minister of Education, Chakib Benmoussa, an official who held several important positions in Morocco, the most recent of which was heading the Development Model Committee, which was tasked with formulating a road map for a new Morocco.
Morocco has been betting for many years on the advancement of the education sector, which suffers from many imbalances, but the policies that were formulated decades ago, have not been able to reach a public school at the level of aspirations and bring the sector out of the crisis.
“incapacitate terms”
In a statement to “Sky News Arabia”, the young man, Muhammad, (32 years old), considered that he was subjected to “unfair exclusion” by the Ministry of National Education, which placed the condition of specifying the age, an end to his dream of becoming a teacher.
The graduate of Ibn Tofail University in Quneitra (west), explains that he was not lucky in the tests he passed in the past years, but he was insistent on repeating the attempt until he was able to pass the test successfully.
And if the obstacle of age prevented Muhammad from achieving his dream of obtaining a teacher’s job, Ayoub, despite meeting the age condition, still faces the same fate.
Ayoub, 24, explained in an interview with “Sky News Arabia” that he will not be able to submit his candidacy file because he does not have a university degree that qualifies him to do so.
The conditions described as “impossible” prompted young people with diplomas and the unemployed to go out in protest demonstrations in a number of regions of Morocco, and most of these young people belong to the so-called “National Association of Unemployed Degree Holders” in Morocco, which includes fifty branches at the Moroccan level.
Immediately after the decision of the Minister of Education was issued, the association issued a communiqué that included a set of demands, on top of which was the cancellation of the new conditions, and threatened to escalate, by resorting to the street, in the event that its demands were not met.
Muhammad Ghallout, the general secretary of the association, reveals that the latter demands the immediate cancellation of these conditions and the opening of the teaching match for everyone without restriction or condition within the framework of what is guaranteed by the public office.
In an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, Ghalout explained that the “Unemployed Association” also calls for direct integration into the public service and the abolition of the contracting system.
The speaker of the contract system means teachers who work in the sector with temporary contracts instead of direct and permanent employment, and it is one of the most prominent thorny files left by the government of justice and development.
Unions against the decision
The new decision of the Ministry of National Education came, while the minister, the guardian of the sector, Chakib Benmoussa, resumed the social dialogue sessions with the education unions, after those sessions were frozen during the era of the previous government.
While the unions welcomed the atmosphere of the dialogue rounds, what disturbed this atmosphere came, as the unions considered that the requirement to reduce the age in particular, contradicts the employment law and strikes at the heart of a right guaranteed by the constitution, which is work.
In this context, Mohamed Khafifi, Deputy Secretary General of the National University of Education, believes that the step of the guardianship ministry is surprising and contradicts what was stated in the new government’s program, which makes employment a priority to reduce the unemployment rate in Morocco.
The unemployment rate in the second half of this year was 12.8 percent, according to the High Commission for Planning, a government institution concerned with statistics.
In a statement to “Sky News Arabia”, the official in the institution affiliated with the Moroccan Federation of Labor, the largest union in Morocco, confirms that the decision was hasty and harsh for young people over 30 years old, stressing the need to maintain what is stipulated in the public service law.
Khafifi called for reversing these conditions, which will stand as an “obstacle” for a number of young people to obtain a job in the field of education, considering that improving the quality of education cannot be linked to reducing the age of teachers.
The beginning of the real reform
In response to the great controversy created by the new conditions for applying for the teaching competition, the Ministry of National Education announced in a communiqué that the step is in line with the reform, which aims at “the desired educational renaissance.”
The Ministry confirmed that the education competitions programmed this year are at the heart of the policy of upgrading the educational system, which made it the new development model of the Kingdom and the government program at the forefront of priorities.
Commenting on setting the maximum age for passing matches at 30 years, the ministry stressed that the goal is to attract distinguished and qualified youth, as early access to the profession will enable better investment in teacher training.
In press statements, the Minister of National Education, Chakib Benmoussa, affirmed that none of the new conditions, which he said contribute to building the future of education and the beginning of real reform, will be undone.
The minister had previously stressed that most efforts are currently being made to achieve a quality public school that guarantees students’ learning, development of their abilities and social advancement.
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