Mohamed Chalouchi - Improving the education system is a major endeavor for government leaders from as far east as the United Arab Emirate to as far west as the United States. The ability to solve problems within the education system reflects a country’s social dynamic and strength.
Every generation is unique and necessitates a specific curriculum, which changes in every decade. That is why reformation within the system is continuous and mandatory.
Since Morocco’s independence, the education system endured challenges from competing authorities that resulted in the mainstreaming of education, Arabization of the instruction, and emergence of leftist influence. In the Eighties, after the collapse of the universal communist rule, it was inevitable to shift from leftwing to rightwing.
In the late Nineties, the national convention on education and training tried but failed to adjust the accumulated structural problems in the sector. The late Abdelaziz Meziane Belfkih, a Moroccan politician and mastermind of the convention, focused on handing over power in a peaceful and smooth manner to the new generation. That was the genuine mission of a council that was appointed to direct the requirements of the phase. The convention was oblivious to the new issues facing the education system.
When the budget was launched to save the situation, many misguided projects that had little to do with reformation of the education system attained funding. Consequently, classrooms and students were left with near nothing from the millions of Moroccan dirhams that were supposed to be provided to them.
After diagnosing education with a serious disease, decisions will be made to overcome the poor reform measures of the last decade. The decisions have to directly benefit education reform regardless of external factors generated by politics, civil society and unions.
The next 50 years promise a turbulent world for the next generation where stability can only be guaranteed through education, independence and survival skills. The supreme council for education and training’s new mission is to identify priorities and initiate education programs without favoritism or equivocalness.
The issue of education requires more attention than the one given to political parties. Education is Morocco’s Achilles heel and it requires intensive follow-up and monitoring. The appointment of a technocrat minister of education in Benkiran’s second government is a strong and clear message to all the political and civil activists that the government is taking steps in the right direction.
The most complicated issue that should be tackled is the Arabization of the teaching language in schools. As for public schooling, it is assumed that it is for free while the money spent on overtime hours seems to refute that fact. There is also the issue of the limited inclusion of Tamazight, despite its addition into the constitution as the second official language of Morocco.
Let the Catalonian example set the precedent for a multicultural society with linguistic diversity. Instead of wasting another half a century on trying to teach the three dialects of Tamazight, we should make it optional and with parental consent. Nevertheless, Tamazight is a valuable component of the Moroccan identity and many Moroccans are proud of it.
Today, priority should be given to requiring English in the first year of secondary school and preparing a task force for teaching it. French, on the other hand, is the required language of science since sixth grade. There is the possibility that sciences will be taught in English, but only in a higher education setting.
The main task is to find solutions for the problems with the education system. The other essential aspect that could shape the reform of education is a shift from conservatism to modernity. Education in the new millennium produced intellectual and cultural emptiness as well as domestic, social and school violence. The current education system has to adhere to universal standards encouraging tolerance, gender equality and human rights.
The excessive promotion of universal laws is sufficient to create an independent and self-confident generation that is able to catch up with the developed world. Eliminating religious and thought extremism will not happen just by building high schools or reforming the curriculum, but by transmitting the message of education intact and ideology-free.
The supreme council of education collected an important set of solutions and practical tools to assess the current state of the education system. The plan was proposed by a large number of activists and intellectuals in the realm of education. The solutions vary between immediate, medium, and long-term solutions.
It is very important to come up with a medium-range five-goal plan to be achieved in one season and make sure it is fully implemented across the country. Countries like Canada and England set three goals that should be achieved in one year and all branches commit to realizing them including the ministry, civil society, political parties and national media.
However, teachers still face challenges due to the lack of unions. Through unions they can join together to call for better salaries and make their way to the middle class. It is the right time to re-establish the confidence we lost in teachers and honor their reputation by satisfying their demands. Teachers should be rewarded for their quality of teaching and specific skills rather than meriting a diploma or job seniority.
In order to better improve the practice of teaching and attract excellent students and qualified teachers, we certainly need to standardize teachers’ working hours to preserve their energy by eliminating overtime hours. Teachers should be granted insurance over the dangers they are exposed to in villages as an incentive to encourage them to settle down in rural areas. Education in rural communities should be controlled by the local authorities. All institutions in cities should be financially and educationally independent. Free access to secondary school should be limited partially then fully at later stages. Standards need to be created to assess the work of all the institutions and be required to publish yearly evaluations about their progress.
However, substantial changes need to be made concerning the education system and quality of schools in Morocco. The supreme council of education needs time to highlight the requirements of the next reform and decide on long-term initiatives. Future generations deserve better educational conditions that will take advantage of the strategic geographic location of Morocco in this unsettled world.
Edited by Liz Yaslik
This article was originally published on MWN Arabic and translated into English by Mona Badri
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy
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