The protest movement against the draft law 16-89 on the reform of the architectural profession does not seem to be weakening. Thus, after the recent sit-ins by architects in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Housing and the press conference of their ordinal institution, it is the turn of the students of the National School of Architecture of Rabat (ENA) to mobilize within their own school, to denounce what they describe as a desire to destroy the architect's profession.

For these students, the 16-89 reform, which aims to grant accreditation and equivalence to private architecture schools or those having an architecture stream in their training curricula, risks disrupting the sector. “If the decree is applied, a flurry of pseudo-architecture schools whose only concern is profit will descend on our country and randomly modify our landscape from top to bottom, forgetting the old directives and the policy that our country followed in this matter,” specifies a statement from the ENA Student Bureau in Rabat.

A situation that requires mobilization to “prevent private lobbies from monopolizing this field... which is a matter of public interest.”

A struggle that promises to be arduous since the Ministry of Housing, Urban Planning and Urban Policy is the main defender of private schools. A position that reflects the change in perspective adopted by the government, which is now seeking to pave the way for private institutes to enter the field of architectural education in Morocco, despite the disastrous experiences of the private architecture schools of Casablanca and Rabat. As proof, the agreement signed by the International University of the administrative capital with the University of Paris-Est for the creation of a school of architecture and urban planning within the UIR.

The ENA students go further. They believe that their school is capable today of training as many architects as Morocco wants since it has been able to adapt and now has three annexes across the Kingdom (Fes, Tetouan, Marrakech). This is all the more so as it plans to open others. According to the angry students, the vote on the draft law in question risks damaging the reputation of this school as a pole of excellence and merit forged throughout its 30 years of existence. Demands that echo those of the Order of Architects, which is expected to hold a press conference today on this subject. Indeed, architects believe that the said article 4 should not even appear as a priority. A provision concocted, according to them, to measure to regularize the situation of the 144 graduates of the Private Higher School of Architecture of Casablanca, created in 2004 and by force by the former Prime Minister Driss Jettou. For the National Order of Architects, there are more urgent reforms such as the revision of the architect contract system, the public procurement decree, or even the possibility for architects to organize themselves into companies that must take priority. On the side of private architecture schools, it is radio silence. Contacted by us, the phones of these schools were unreachable.