Hundreds of students at a Sidi Slimane middle school threw rocks and vandalized school property earlier this week in protest against the resumption of classes nearly four months after teachers’ strikes.
On Monday, when many teachers at Laaibat School returned to their duties, students initiated an attack immediately after a break, attacking classrooms and staff with rocks, as shown in numerous online videos and through various testimonies.
“The students gathered, throwing stones over the fence, numbering around 400 individuals. It quickly escalated,” a teacher, using Leila as an alias to protect her identity, recounted the events to Hespress EN.
Leila described scenes of students forcefully pushing open the school’s heavy door, leading to a vicious assault on the facility and significant material losses. “The teachers were devastated to witness their students, whom they had taught just hours ago, launch a brutal attack,” said the teacher.
The chaos intensified as students entered classrooms, breaking chairs, desks, and windows. The teachers, frightened and feeling unsafe, found themselves unable to control the raging crowd as they tried to hide away.
Local authorities were immediately contacted by the school director, but the situation escalated further as students turned their aggression towards the Gendarmerie members, who struggled to restore order.
The director himself suffered a severe head injury when he attempted to reason with the students.
The turmoil only subsided when students gradually dispersed, leaving behind a trail of destruction throughout the institution and significant losses.
Staff from the school told Hespress EN that classes resumed Tuesday, following a notice from the regional directorate of the Ministry of Education.
Since the onset of teacher protests in October, such instances of violence have been unprecedented.
Despite various government proposals, thousands of teachers continue to protest. Demonstrators denounced the mismanagement of the education dossier and the unprecedented stalemate that has gripped the sector since the approval of the unified statute.
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