Rabat - In an unexampled way of protest, teachers holding BAs and MAs walked in bare feet holding bread and students’ books to reflect their miserable situation. Their march is a call for all of society to stand by their side
Teachers used to be respected and were seen as the noble messengers of their societies. Today, in Morocco a teacher is no longer that person. Teachers in general, and young teachers in particular, have always thought of a rosy teaching context where they would fight the illiteracy of our Moroccan pupils. Certainly, it is the common intention of most new teachers all over Morocco.
In this respect, all teachers, whether young or old, will remember their first years of teaching. All of them will remember the first exam sheet he or she corrected and they will remember, with great happiness, the first high score they jotted down. Meanwhile, none of them can forget the pain of the first low score they noted on the scoring sheet.
Personally, I remember that day very well. As soon as the bell rang, I took my bike and went home on the spot. I didn’t turn back for any call; I even didn’t sign the administration follow-up sheet for teachers. I was so keen to see what the first score was. How did Hicham do? Did Fatiha do well? Did they fall in the trick? There was a broad range of questions whose answers I was eager to know. I didn’t get my lunch and I didn’t even think of having a cup of tea or anything else. It was a remarkable moment.
The most painful moment in an educational career of any teacher is the time when he feels that there is a low achievement of their students. It is really the strong eagerness and ambition they all have, not only at the beginning of their educational career, but throughout it as well. In this spirit, once teachers begin, things change little by little.
Sadly enough, such great potentials are dying day after day. None can deny the tremendous challenges that confront the Moroccan teacher, which awfully kill and erase those qualities. In these days, there is a concrete example of such sufferings and hardships. The last days of this year will never be forgotten for the Moroccan teachers. The oppression that has been witnessed all through Rabat streets will remain an unforgiveable event.
A large number of images have been circulating on the Internet showing how violent the intervention was over the days of peaceful protests. Indeed, when a teacher feels that he is deprived of the simplest rights that can be given to him, how can he or she carry on working with full energy?
The right for promotion by the BA and MA diplomas has always been a right that is guaranteed by the constitution. It has always been a way to develop teachers’ levels on both sides. First, teachers can expand their knowledge in his or her educational field and by extension the students benefit from this, Moreover, teacher’s financial status can get improved.
However, when one sees the events of Rabat and how teachers are being beaten, how can a teachers energize themselves to work. For me the title of the article is very telling. Yes, I know everyone can feel the words of my title. All of you can feel what I want to mean since I am simply a teacher like those who have been beaten. It is a bitter reality that we as Moroccan teachers should face. The candle that has been enlightened in the days of training gets weaker and weaker day after day. “Take a right, off a light” implies that when teachers feel they are very oppressed and humiliated, they can never go forward. They can never be motivated.
As a way of showing their awful discontentment, the National Coordinations of Teachers holding BA and MA degrees decided to walk in bare feet holding pieces of bare bread and students’ books. They symbolically mean to show the politics of enslavement. In the first official reaction of the government, Mr. Benkiran emphasized the fact that teachers should sit for an oral professional exam to get their promotion. This way, the government opens wide gates of bribery and corruption. Both co-ordinations emphasize their unified stand of refusal. None will sit for this exam and in case it is launched, teachers will not take part in it. This procedure is extremely unjust to teachers who have done their ultimate efforts to extend their educational knowledge to benefit their pupils.
Finally, today it has become very difficult for teachers to speak about democracy and human rights to students when they themselves are unable to voice out one of their simplest rights. Therefore, teachers get very disappointed and unmotivated and as a result, the public school situation will get worse and worse.
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