MPs Submit A Draft Law To Protect Education Personnel

A draft law to protect employees of the education sector, submitted by MPs proposes strict penalties of up to 3 years in prison and a fine of up to 500.000 dinars for each person who insults an employee of the education sector, or dares to break into an educational institution by force, and uses social media to defame or threaten.

Nabil Rahiche, a representative of the Society for Peace Movement, deposited on Tuesday a draft law with the office of the National People’s Assembly, related to protecting employees of the education sector from the repeated attacks they are subjected to inside the schools.

According to the representative of the proposal, the draft law falls within the framework of an effort to ensure the best protection for employees of the national education sector, and through it, teachers, whether inside or outside the educational institution, to improve the educational level in the education sector and strive to ensure respect for the teacher.

According to the text of the draft law, which was reviewed by Echorouk, the phenomenon of repeated verbal and physical assaults on employees of the education sector has spread recently, in a way that made the sanctity of the educational institution permissible according to the text of the draft law and caused a state of insecurity that prevails in many educational institutions of the country.

The text of the draft law states; “The situation fraught with tension and fear among the education sector’s workers and even pupils has become a phenomenon that requires prompt legal treatment to deter it before it develops”.

The project recalled some cases of attacks that affected employees of the education sector in the recent period, such as the attack that affected 9 female teachers at their place of residence in the state of Bordj Badji Mokhtar southern Algeria), and another attack against a professor in Biskra (southern Algeria), another incident that led to the death of a professor of social studies at Wahiba Kabeyli middle school in Sidi Mhamed in Algiers, and a teacher of the French language in Tizi Ouzou (eastern Algiers), who was also a victim of an assault inside the educational institution.

The proponents of the proposal said the Algerian legislator is required to activate the legal texts that deter such behaviour and strengthen the efforts of the employees of the education sector as a public office on the one hand, and on the other hand, put an end to anyone who tempts to attack or compromise the security and safety of the sector’s employees, as well as property.

Article 2 of the text of the draft law on the parliament table states; “Any person who breaks into an educational institution by force shall be punished with imprisonment for one year and a fine of between 5,000 and 50,000 Algerian dinars”.

As for the assault, Article 3 states: “Every person who threatens, insults, slanders, or assaults, by any means, employees of the national education sector while exercising their duties, shall be punished with imprisonment for three years and a fine ranging from 50,000 dinars to 500,000 Algerian dinars”.

Regarding defamation, Article 4 of the proposed draft law states; “Anyone who uses the internet or social media to defame or threaten members of the national education sector due to exercising their duties shall be punished with a three-year prison sentence and a fine ranging from 300,000 to 500,000 Algerian dinars”.