Contract teachers in Rabat, Morocco have mounted pressure on authorities to offer them permanent employment status.
The teachers have campaigned for weeks to be integrated into the national civil service of the country.
Despite a ban on gatherings owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the teachers embarked on strikes and protests to make their request known to the government
On Wednesday, one such protest led to a clash between the teachers, their supporters and the Moroccan police.
A teacher from Salé, Taha Wadani complained of the repression they suffer in the face of silence from the Ministry which has refused to dialogue with them. He bemoaned the introduction of a program for professional qualification which was completely rejected because the teachers would rather be under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and not the academies.
According to the National Coordination of Contractual Teachers, the fate of 19 contractual teachers who took part in the demonstrations remain “unknown”. The Coordination, which published the complete list of teachers “arrested or whose fate is unknown”, also reports that several of their members were injured owing to police oppression and violence.
While addressing the total number of teachers arrested in the protest, a member of the National Coordination of Contractual Teachers, Raja Aitsi said the police intervention of April 6 and 7 has seen the arrest of 20 teachers in Rabat and they are still there. And today the series of protests continue while more teachers are being arrested in unknow numbers.
Among those arrested is Nezha Majdi, the only female on the list. She had previously “exposed the reality of oppression, abuse and sexual harassment” to which she was subjected during the March 17 demonstration.