Education in Morocco
It was in the year 1963 that education was made compulsory for all Moroccan children between the ages of 6 through 13 and during this time all subjects were Arabized in the first and second grades, while French was maintained as the language of instruction of mathematics and science in both primary and secondary levels. Later, to meet the rising demand for secondary education in the 1970s, Morocco imported French-speaking teachers from countries such as France, Romania, and Bulgaria to teach mathematics and sciences, and Arab teachers to teach humanities and social studies. By 1989, Arabization of all subjects across all grades in both primary and secondary education was accomplished. However, French was maintained the medium of instruction for scientific subjects in technical and professional secondary schools, technical institutes and universities.
The education system in Morocco is composed of pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Government efforts to increase the availability of education services have led to increased access at all levels of education. Morocco’s education system consists of 6 years of primary, 3 years of lower-middle / intermediate school, 3 years of upper secondary, and a tertiary education. The education system in Morocco is under the preview of the Ministry of National Education (MNE) and Ministry of Higher Education and Executive Training. The Ministry of National Education decentralized its functions to regional levels created in 1999 when 72 provinces were subsumed into 16 regional administrative units. Then the responsibility of the provision of education services has been slowly devolving to the regional level. This decentralization process will ensure that education programs are responsive to regional needs and the budget is administered locally. Each region has a Regional Academy for Education and Training and a regional director who is senior to provincial delegates within the region. The regional academies will also be responsible for developing 30 percent of the curriculum so that it is locally relevant. The central level of the MNE continues to manage the other 70 percent. Also the Delegations are charged with providing services for education in their regions.
I – Comprehension (10 points)
- Are these sentences true or false? Justify. (3 points)
- Subjects were Arabized in the first and second grades.
- By 1989, The Moroccan educational system didn’t use French as a way of instruction in scientific subjects
- The delegations are responsible for the education services in their areas.
- Answer these questions from the text. (3 points)
- Why did Morocco import French-speaking teachers?
- What are the Morocco’s educational levels?
- Who is responsible of the education system in Morocco?
- Find in the text words meaning the same as (2 points)
- Obligatory (paragraph 1): ____________
- Make certain (paragraph 2): ____________
- What do the underlined words in the text refer to (2 points)
- This (paragraph 1) : _________________
- It (paragraph 2) : _____________