A slew of high profile sexual harassment cases at universities in Morocco are underway, with the first leading to a guilty verdict and a prison sentence of two years against the offending party.

On Wednesday, a Moroccan court found the defendant, an Economics lecturer at Hassan I University, guilty of “indecent behaviour”, “violence”, and “sexual harassment”.

Dubbed “sex for good grades”, the scandal has rocked the North African country since evidence of sexual messages between lecturers and students were exposed by local media in September. 

In particular, the investigative work of two female journalists from TelQuel magazine — Leila Chik and Fanny Haza — was what sounded the alarm.

Chik comments, “We felt that something was going on that we weren’t talking about. A few things had gone out, but it had never given rise to a movement or a liberation of speech [...] When digging, we realized that this was quite a widespread phenomenon.”

Haza adds, “There was a real protection of the professors by the establishments, which wanted to preserve their reputation and the professors rather than the students.“

Four more professors will appear in court today on similar charges of “incitement to debauchery”, gender discrimination, and violence against women.

Morocco is not the only African country to battle with high profile sex scandals in its education system. 

In 2019, Nigerian journalist Kiki Mordi went undercover to investigate sexual corruption in Nigerian and Ghanaian universities, finding that male lecturers were sexually harassing female students and pressuring them for sex in exchange for passing grades.

The award-winning Sex for Grades documentary caused a media stir, with global outrage and condemnation.