Visually impaired graduates seek civil service careers

2007-04-29

A group of university educated people with visual handicaps have been demanding public sector jobs. Although the Moroccan government has offered them employment in call centres, many have refused to work in private enterprise.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 29/04/2007

[Sarah Touahri] Many visually impaired graduates want public sector jobs

For seven years, hundreds of unemployed visually impaired graduates have been petitioning for jobs in the civil service. Armed with university degrees, they demand to be allowed to work in the public sector where they will be guaranteed a stable income.

Samira Ouardani, one of the visually impaired graduates, believes that the state has a duty to find handicapped people employment where their full rights can be guaranteed. "How can we trust private enterprise when even normal people don’t feel secure in their private sector jobs?" she wonders.

Abdelmalek Moutaki also has little confidence in the private sector. He feels that for the handicapped, the private sector constitutes too much of a risk because employers could sack them at any moment. For him and other visually impaired graduates, only the public sector could guarantee him any ongoing stability, he believes.

For these reasons, the visually impaired have held multiple sit-ins in front of Parliament and the State Secretariat for the Family, Children and Handicapped Persons. In a recent move, the government has attempted to defuse the situation by offering the demonstrators employment in private call centres in Rabat and Casablanca.

This solution was reportedly proposed following a meeting of public and private leaders including call centre representatives, the Employment Minister, and the Secretary of State responsible for professional training. At the meeting's conclusion, it was decided that the State will bear the cost of purchasing the equipment necessary to allow blind people to work in call centres, and that the Office of Professional Training and Workforce Development will provide training in Braille and job-specific skills in order to prepare the new employees for the job.

However, many of the visually impaired job-seekers object to this proposal. They argue that because the jobs offered are in the private sector, the proposal does not address the issues they raise. Of the 450 people who presented a petition for employment at the State Secretariat, only 40 people have agreed to work at call centres.

Youssfi Adil, Chair of the Moroccan Association for Handicapped Rights, told Magharebia that the visually impaired will hold to their demands. "Our members will not accept this proposal, knowing as they do that numerous sufferers of the same handicap have already found employment in public service," he said, explaining that 45 visually impaired people have been recruited into the civil service.

Yasmina Baddou, Secretary of State for the Family, Children and Handicapped Persons, however, believes that the government's approach is a good solution. No other action is currently being planned, Baddou explained, because it would be impossible to give public sector jobs to every visually impaired person. The private sector is the future for the young, whether handicapped or not, and the state's current emphasis is on job-related training for the young and establishing partnerships with private enterprise, she said.