Teachers affiliated with Morocco's five major trade union confederations are observing a nationwide strike on Wednesday, April 16, following the death of a vocational training teacher who was assaulted by one of her students in Erfoud. In a joint statement sent to Yabiladi, the education branches of the UMT, CDT, UGTM, FNE, and FDT also announced regional sit-ins on Monday and Tuesday to denounce the violence targeting school staff. In coordination with the Union Against School Violence, these unions have called on the government to implement the agreements signed on December 10 and 26, 2023. «Moroccan schools are experiencing a dangerous escalation, especially with the increase in physical and verbal assaults by students and/or their guardians against administrative and teaching staff. These attacks now pose a serious threat to the safety of male and female teachers alike, raising questions about their root causes and their impact on the educational system», the signatories warned. «While many social and economic factors converge—family breakdown, poverty and unemployment, the influence of the street through a culture of violence, vulgarity, contempt, and defamation spread via social media, video games, and the press—the systematic dismantling of public education, the incitement of hatred against teachers, and the devaluation of their role all serve to conceal the stark failure of the country's education policies and reform initiatives», the unions lamented. In this context, the coalition of five unions condemned the Erfoud tragedy, along with «all attacks against administrative and teaching staff, and violations of the sanctity of educational institutions by outsiders». They also called for «the immediate repeal of all regulations that normalize violence; increased family involvement through awareness-raising workshops; promotion of dialogue and mutual respect; stricter penalties; and the establishment of vigilance cells». The teacher passed away on Sunday at the Hassan II University Hospital in Fez, following surgery and several days in intensive care. She had been violently assaulted by one of her students on March 27. The same day, police in Erfoud arrested the 21-year-old suspect.
