Baitas: 'Pioneer schools' for secondary education operational in next school year

Morocco now has 626 pioneering schools for the 2023/2024 school year, all in primary education, with the aim of reaching 2,600 by the start of the next school year.

At middle-school level, a defined number of these schools are planned for 2024/2025, revealed Mustapha Baitas, Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament and Government Spokesman, on Thursday.

Answering journalists’ questions at a press briefing following the Government Council meeting.

Baitas recalled that the concept of the pioneering school is a well-thought-out emanation of the latest government guidelines aimed at reforming the national education system.

In addition, this establishment of excellence aims to perfect the scheduling of learning through three cardinal axes.

The first, focusing on the learner, requires the adoption of avant-garde paradigms and educational methods, metamorphosing teaching according to the spectrum of each learner, while advocating a rehabilitative approach centered on pedagogical support, and also outlining a prophylactic precept for effective instruction during the stages of knowledge secretion, explains the Minister.

“At each stage of a pupil’s life, there are key stages at which he or she must acquire the necessary knowledge he or she will need, failing which, it could lead to abandonment and wastage”, he added.

The second axis, linked to the teacher, is aimed at easing working conditions by equipping administrative pedagogical staff with digital tools and didactic resources, while guaranteeing assiduous supervision by education inspectors, and offering theoretical and practical training and approaches to bridge the pedagogical gap, while giving precedence to perpetual training, noted the spokesman.

As for the third component, associated with the establishment, it aims to raise reception conditions within the educational edifice, improve the cleanliness of the premises and equip classrooms with the necessary equipment, while making essential financial resources available to the establishment.

In particular, Baitas pointed out that pioneer school accreditation is granted by a central committee responsible for accrediting this label for the benefit of these establishments.

Indeed, the government has been implementing this project since the current 2023-2024 school year, with the launch of 626 public educational establishments benefiting around 322,000 students.

In addition, the evaluations revealed substantial progress in the student body of these pioneering schools, “the fruit of the unfailing collaboration of the teaching staff, as these establishments act in concert with all its departments, whether administrative or pedagogical, with a view to raising the level of their learners”, he added.

He added: “With the positive results achieved to date, we are planning a gradual expansion of these elite establishments. We started the previous year with around 626 establishments, all at primary level, with a view to reaching around 2,600 schools for the next school cycle 2024-2025”.

According to the Minister, this projection would be equivalent to around 30% of the number of primary school pupils, or around 1,300,000, affirming that this evolutionary trajectory will be maintained, with an expansion programmed for the 2027-2028 school period.

As for the college level, deployment is scheduled for the coming year. This implies that, for the start of the next school year, a defined number of establishments will be inaugurated, with a view to generalisation by 2028-2029.

“The decree approved today by the Government Council explains the procedure for awarding this stamp of excellence to the institution and its committees, which are responsible for monitoring and supporting the project, in line with our generalization strategy”, concluded Baitas.