Morocco Cracks Down on Striking Teachers with Administrative Sanctions

After more than 11 consecutive weeks of teacher strikes, the Ministry of National Education has started to crack down. Temporary suspension decisions have been notified to several striking teachers for "non-compliance with their professional and educational obligations, repeated and illegitimate absences, thus depriving students of their right to stable and continuous education, in addition to non-compliance with values and professional ethics in accordance with the standards in force in the education and training system".

The regional directorates that issued these decisions consider these shortcomings to be serious, in accordance with Article 73 of the general status of the civil service. This is why the measure of temporary suspension is accompanied by a suspension of salary, with the exception of family allowances. The situation of the teachers concerned will be examined by a disciplinary council before the lifting of the sanction, within a maximum period of four months.

At the expiration of this period, the civil servant may again receive his full salary, even if the council does not make any decision against him. He can also claim the sums deducted from his salary if no sanction such as the warning, the reprimand, the removal from the list of promotions is pronounced against him. On the other hand, if he is prosecuted in criminal proceedings, the restoration of his full salary will be subject to a decision of the competent court.