Moroccan Supreme Council for Education fears remote learning will exacerbate disparities in access to education

The Moroccan Supreme Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research issued a report on the state of remote learning in Morocco, pointing out the many challenges facing the national educational sector.

In a report on “Education in the Time of COVID-19 in Morocco,” in partnership with UNICEF, the council stated that public policy for remote learning should focus on equipping educational institutions and training teachers.

The council advised for the training of academic personnel, while taking into account the difficulties rural students face when it comes to obtaining the necessary digital tools and means.

The council stressed that a digital shift may be an opportunity to ensure equality in access to education, but only if the challenges are addressed, warning that failure to do so may exacerbate disparities.

The advisory body stated that “the latter is more likely for Morocco if authorities do not decide, through expected reforms, to take into account the constraints poor families and the rural population faces.”

According to the data from the report, 26% of Moroccan families do not have access to the Internet by the end of 2018, 43% of which were living in remote rural areas.

Based on such statistics, the committee admits “the ambition to establish an equitable and inclusive process of remote learning is a difficult task, due to the absence of a comprehensive strategy aimed at providing students in need with basic digital tools.”

The study concludes that “if remote learning is an alternative procedure to in-person learning in times of crisis, or is a complementary format, then it must be part of the current educational system reform in Morocco.”

According to data from the Ministry of National Education, an estimated MAD 2.54 billion needs to be mobilized to make digital tools available to all 2.54 million male and female students enrolled in governmental aid for education.