The conclusions of the new survey by the Higher Council of Education on the educational level of students help to consolidate the Minister of National Education, Chakib Benmoussa, in his choices for the reform of the education sector.
The Higher Education Council, chaired by Royal Councilor Omar Azziman, is releasing a new survey on the educational level of pupils in the 6th year of primary school and in the 3rd year of middle school. An umpteenth survey which certainly provides tangible elements on the linguistic and scientific skills of the pupils but as usual, the council does not propose any solution to remedy the recorded shortcomings.
This survey was carried out in 2019, a few months before the outbreak of the health crisis which caused a significant deterioration in the level of students. Indeed, following the prolonged closure of schools during confinement between March and June 2020 and the establishment of distance education as well as the postponement of the start of the school year in October 2021, parents have observed a considerable drop in the level of students, which has been accentuated with repeated strikes by teachers, especially contract teachers, whose crisis is still weighing on the normal functioning of schools.
Teacher quality
Still, the investigation by the Higher Education Council comes in a tormented political context marked by the reform proposed by the Minister of National Education, Chakib Benmoussa, certain decisions of which aroused strong reactions from Moroccans, in particular that relating to the limitation of the age of 30 years to take the competitive entrance examinations to the teaching position.
Mr. Benmoussa invokes to justify his new conditions the improvement of the quality of the teachers, main grievance raised by the Superior council of education to explain the low level of the pupils of the primary and the college. Covering a population of more than 36,000 students enrolled in 1,500 schools spread across the country, the Superior Council’s survey focused on the assessment of four subjects (Arabic, French, maths and SVT) for 6th year students. primary and the same subjects to which is added physics and chemistry for the pupils of the 3rd year of the college.
For the former, who are educated in public schools, only 42% have a satisfactory level in Arabic, 27% in French and 24% in math. When you are educated in the private sector, the level is much higher. Thus, 65% of the students of the private school are good in Arabic, 64% in French and 52% in maths. For college students, the level is literally catastrophic. Thus, for the public sector, only 9% of pupils have satisfactory knowledge in the five subjects while in the private sector, the level increases to 60% for French and 40% for the other four subjects.
The results of this survey thus confirm the collapse of the public college which no longer manages to instill knowledge in Moroccan students. If the Covid caused a sharp drop in the educational level, the fact remains that the solutions are not yet known to remedy such a situation considered lamentable for the country. Neither on the side of the supervisory ministry nor on the side of this Council whose role is strictly consultative.
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