Parents Protest French School Budget Cuts in Morocco with "Dead Day"

The associations demand the maintenance of the quality of French education, by setting a minimum quota of 50% of certified teachers, as well as the end of increases in school fees. Families refuse to be victims of budget adjustments.

"On June 12, we keep our children at home." A slogan, according to HuffPost, held by all the parents, to denounce the worrying situation linked to the reduction of budgets allocated to resident and expatriate teachers, in favor of "local contracts".

"Expatriates are fully borne by the French state, residents are for their part paid in part by the French state and the establishment," explains the president of the teachers’ union, who adds that "local law personnel is totally borne by the establishment, whose budget comes from school fees but also from what is called the state subsidy".

The anger of the parent associations follows the reduction of the state subsidy, which results in the departure of qualified personnel, and the increase in "local contracts", hence the increase in school fees. "We realize that school fees are increasing, the secondment of certified teachers is decreasing, the state’s share is decreasing, the quality of education as well and we cannot accept that," laments a member of the group of associations.

On the other hand, the parents’ associations also fear a depreciation of the quality of education, by the substitution of profiles that "do not meet the expected pedagogical requirements" to residents and expatriates. For this, a 50-50 quota is proposed by the associations, to prevent students from serving as "guinea pigs".