To teach in Mauritania has become virtually impossible for foreigners. Cheikh Abba Bayo was teaching since 2014. He is now a victim of that governmental measure. « I have been thrown out of the school ofNations where I taught French, soon after an inspection team from the ministry of Education came to visit. » says the migrant teacher.
According to UNESCO’ statistics in 2007, there were 20 000 teachers for 37000 primary schools in Mauritania. And another 5200 professors ensure secondary education tuition for 100 000 students, of which one quarter is in the private sector.
According to Cheikh Bayo, 80% of teachers in private school in Mauritania are migrants. The General Union of Workers in Mauritania (CGTM) speaks for 500 to 600 migrant teachers of which 200 belong to the Senegalese community. The secondary level teachers are much sought after for subjects such as French, English and Maths.
A study from the Ministry of Education 15 years ago underlined that the vast majority of school teachers in Mauritania underlined that the vast majority of school teachers in Mauritania were not bilinguals, three quarters were Arab speaking only and 20% French speakers. The need for French speaking teachers is very high as more than a quarter of all disciplines must be taught in French.
The Mauritanian government took from the beginning of the school year 2014-15 an administrative measure which has forbidden migrants to teach; it follows a similar decision against foreign taxi drivers and fishermen.
For Court lawyer Id Oud Mbareck, this new measure «is not a law with legislative character but a mere administrative measure which contradicts existing law. ». And he insists that the labour code « does not forbid migrants to work, as long as certain conditions are met, mainly, to detain a work permit as the principal document enabling migrants to work freely ».
«The State must allow these migrants to work because they constitute a necessary work force » recommends Lawyer Fatimata M’Baye, president of the Mauritanian Society for Human Rights.
As to the head of migration in CGTM, Mamadou Niang thinks that employment management «cannot be based on security management but much more on administrative management, because this is management of work ». Et Hence, he adds, Mauritania must « respect international convention and rulings which she adopted to that effect ».
The president of AMDH diverges from these of Mamadou Kane, ambassador of Senegal to Mauritania: « texts about migrant rights have not been ratified by Mauritania, and it makes a serious difference with other countries welcoming migrants such as the Unites States of America, Great Britain and other Western European countries ».
« How could one be forbidden to work in a country when he holds all required documents for work permit residency in the very same country ? » wonders Cheikh Abba Bayo who is now unemployed. According to him « this is a regrettable form of discrimination ».
