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By Rachid Ait Oumaiz
Morocco World News
Agadir, Morocco, January 26, 2012
The issue of Morocco’s unemployed graduates has witnessed several changes in the recent times. Many demonstrations have taken place in Rabat and in other cities as well. Unemployed graduates have continued their struggle for complete integration in public institutions. The answer of the authorities differs from time to time. Sometimes they discuss the demands with the representatives of the groups. In other cases, the most frequent ones, the doors of dialogue get closed and the street becomes the last resort that unemployed graduates can have recourse to.
In this process, occurred last Wednesday’s sad events when three unemployed graduates burned themselves in front of the authorities. The action was a response to the absence of dialogue between the groups struggling in Rabat and the newly elected government of Abdelillah Benkirane. What is striking about those events is that unemployed graduates could not wait until the Parliament had bestowed its trust on the new government. They did not give enough time for the new government to act, bearing in mind that the Moroccan Prime Minister himself promised to solve this problem, which is one of the biggest challenges his government is facing.
Unemployed graduates have made some progress in their struggle. They have organized themselves in different groups under significant names. Also, they have democratically elected their representatives. Furthermore, they have classified their urgent and strategic demands. Above all, they have committed themselves to the regular protests their groups lead throughout the year.
However, some of the groups have made detrimental mistakes. Sometimes they penetrate public institutions while keeping citizens away from their services. They boycott the ‘Tram-Way’ impeding ordinary people from arriving to their destinations on time. Some of them utter ‘taboo’ words without caring about their negative effects on others. To make matters worse, some unemployed graduates have deviated from their basic demands, which are socially based, while focusing on some political concerns that have nothing to do with their issue.
Within the framework of current events, unemployed graduates and their families are waiting for the new government to respond positively to their demands. Prime Minister, Benkirane, claimed previously that the budget of his government is not sufficient, and he could not satisfy all the unemployed graduates in the country. The program of Benkirane’s government includes the creation of 20,000 jobs, which, according to the graduates themselves, is not enough and does not match their needs.
Both the government and the graduates have to search for practical solutions to the problem of unemployment. It is true that the issue of unemployed graduates is an outcome of poor policies adopted by the previous governments, but nobody has the patience to wait for remedies in vain. The time is now for immediate and clear-cut decisions. Transparency should be the title of the current negotiations between the different parties.
I believe that the problem of Moroccan unemployed graduates is structural. It is a problem of institutions and the job market that cannot accommodate the growing numbers of university graduates every year. Solutions to this issue should not be temporary. They have to be comprehensive and strategic. Everyone should contribute to the making of what I call a ‘Moroccan recipe’ that appeals to all tastes.
Edited by Benjamin Villanti
Rachid Ait Oumaiz is a Moroccan high school teacher of English. He holds a professional BA in TEFL & ICT (Teaching English as a Foreign Language and Information Communication Technology) from Ibn Zohr University in Agadir. Rachid Ait Oumaiz is an active member of MATE (The Moroccan Association of Teachers of English). He is also interested in Politics, International Relations, Social Studies and Journalism.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy
© Morocco World News
