The Moroccan union for Higher Education and Scientific Research is set to boycott the first week of classes of the academic year over what they called the ministry’s procrastination to meet their demands.
The boycott is the latest in a series of actions undertaken by professors to pressure the government to review a 25-year-old statute governing hiring, terms of employment, and promotions of professors. A government-tabled draft to review the legislation is still lacking, the Union says.
The Union says the draft statute is unfair in its requirement for candidates to be under 45 years old to qualify for a professor position. Many exceed the age limit. The draft also prohibits research professors from lecturing outside of their affiliated universities.
Other demands include salary increases, exemption from income tax, and a central role in the drafting of programs for the development of higher education institutions and universities.
The Union had previously demanded that the ministry reviews the draft before the end of September.
“This boycott will involve a large number of professors,” the national secretary of the union Mohamed Benjbour.
Benjbour said that the union could annul the boycott if a meeting he has set with the head of government and the Minister of Higher Education on September 26 bears positive results.
The National Union of Higher Education previously organized a general strike across all institutions of higher education and scientific research on June 7, 8, and 9.
The strike sought to “confront the policy of procrastination pursued by the ministry in fulfilling its obligations, especially those related to the statute for researcher professors.”
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