The Legal Status of Working Students in Morocco: A Study of Legislative and Regulatory Milestones from Independence to the Present

Abstract

This study examines the historical and legal transformations that have shaped the legal status of working students and their right to pursue university education in Morocco. It analyzes the evolution of the relationship between the right to education and the mechanisms of administrative and institutional regulation and control adopted by the state from independence to the present. The study employs a historical-legal approach by tracing and analyzing relevant legislative and regulatory texts, administrative circulars and correspondence, as well as pertinent judicial decisions, while situating them within their historical, political, and social contexts. This approach makes it possible to identify the transformations that have affected state policy regarding employees pursuing education and to trace the development of the mechanisms and instruments adopted to regulate their access to university education and their pursuit of studies therein. The study demonstrates that the regulation of the status of working students has undergone successive transformations associated with the economic, political, and social contexts of each period. It evolved from regulating employee absences and reconciling professional and academic obligations, to subjecting access to university education to prior administrative authorization, then requiring full-time commitment and attendance, followed by the abolition of the authorization requirement and the reopening of access to university education for employees, and ultimately the reformulation of restrictions governing this status through new mechanisms. In the current phase, these mechanisms include the adoption of flexible study schedules, accompanied by a reorganization of educational programs and the imposition of fees in return for adapting study schedules to the circumstances of working students. The study concludes that tracing these successive stages, despite differences in regulatory instruments and variations in the policies adopted by successive governments, reveals a recurring tendency to address the phenomenon of employees enrolling in university education by limiting the number of employees benefiting from such opportunities and restricting their attendance, rather than developing more balanced institutional solutions that simultaneously take into account the employee’s right to pursue higher education, the requirements of continuity of public services, and the capacity of higher education institutions to accommodate students.