Moroccan Minister of Education Chakib Benmoussa, revealed worrying figures this Monday over the state of national education.
In a presentation of his ministry’s budget to the house of councilors, Benmoussa stated that “70% of Moroccan students face difficulties in reading, writing, and mathematics,” calling for the necessity to combine the efforts of all actors within the educational system to achieve standard quality and overcome this state.
Benmoussa cited a number of international studies and reports, which rank Morocco below the international average in terms of students’ ability to achieve basic academic competencies.
The minister mentioned that 28% of students in the 12 to 14-year-old age group are not enrolled in schools, sounding the alarm over a potential growth in the rates of uneducated children.
The official said that the newly announced conditions set by the Ministry for teaching candidates to the public sector “are only a prelude to the educational system’s reform.”
According to the minister, “the quality of public education is linked to building a professional mechanism that starts when the teachers are young so that they can keep up with new developments and changes brought to the sector.”
The minister pointed out that Bachelor of Education graduates do not exceed 1500, which he says is “not sufficient to fill the staff shortage” in Moroccan public schools.
According to Benmoussa, the recent criteria set for public sector teacher applicants allows education graduates to take the ministry’s entrance exam without preselection. This will require the government to counter the flow of candidates to the exam by setting different selection criteria for graduates from other majors, hence the controversial ban of applicants over the age of 30.
Benmoussa also promised educational unions their withstanding problems will be addressed, through rounds of social dialogue aimed at finding appropriate short-term and long-term solutions.
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