Rabat: Employee Students Protest University Fees Outside Parliament

Civil servants and wage earners enrolled at Moroccan universities gathered outside Parliament on Sunday, November 1, to reject the fees charged for studying under the flexible-schedule system and to demand free public education.

The demonstrators chanted against privatisation and called for free tuition, insisting on their right to finish their degrees regardless of their job status or ability to pay. They also described themselves as patriots, rejecting any attempt to brand them saboteurs or separatists.

The protest was organised by the national coordination of employees and wage earners required to follow the flexible schedule. According to the group, the fees keep many of those concerned from registering or continuing their studies because they cannot afford the sums demanded, a situation it says is worsening university dropout among these students.

The coordination directed its criticism at the Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, arguing that charging employees conflicts with the principles of social fairness and equal opportunity. It also questioned how the measure squares with government statements about supporting the middle class and easing its financial burden.

Among its demands, the group is calling for Article 81 to be frozen until a fair solution is found, for free public education to be guaranteed at every level, and for the enrolment of employees who passed master’s entrance exams but could not register because of limited places in the regular-schedule track.