Reforming The Reform

By Abdelmjid Seghir

Moroco News Tribune

Agadir, Morocco|It is quite alarming how the Moroccan educational system ends a reform just to start a new one. Reform is our ministry’s “thing”, it just can’t do without it. The more alarming observation is that the ministry NEVER cares about what educators have to say or offer. Instead, the ministry brings someone from abroad, offer them millions of Dirhams and waste more millions on fake and worthless trainings. We, along with the writers from the best custom writing service, have spent a lot of time creating a presentation with statistics from educators after each reform. It's available at https://bestwritingservice.com/.

Many educators make allegations that when the ministry fails to live up to Moroccans expectations, it resorts to some procedures to face the mistakes it has made. K. M. a ministry of education employee explains that the ministry has three main strategies to explain the dire situation of education in Morocco. “First, it denies that education has reached the bottom by making up some fake statistics to persuade the public. However, these arguments don’t hold water. What’s the point of numbers when reality shows the opposite?” K. M. demands before adding: “So, in order to face this embarrassment, the ministry moves to the second best option; holding teachers responsible for the situation by claiming that teachers do not work hard enough and that they are being “spoiled.” Whereas the third option is claiming that the educational system has grown old and that it needs to be reformed.”

As far as reforms are concerned, many educators think that the government isn’t being serious about them. They think that there will never be a serious reform unless educators’ opinions, suggestions and expertise are taken into account. This is why educators raise so many questions related to their exclusion from the decision making process in what is supposed to be their ministry; “Why aren’t we consulted? Why don’t they ask us? Why do they bring people from outside the country when no one knows our needs more than we do? Why is this marginalization of our role?” Many teachers wonder.

Responding to these questions, some educators suggest that Moroccan decision makers have an “inferiority complex”. This means that they believe that quality comes from abroad. They don’t believe that Moroccans have what it takes to improve the quality of their own lives, education economy or even football. “This doesn’t happen in education only; it’s the same thing everywhere. Foreigners are seen as more competent and more intelligent than us.” K. M. explains. “Look at our football national team for example; mediocre foreign coaches get salaries 10 times higher than our local competent coaches.” K. M. adds in apparent frustration.

Eventually, it’s needless to mention that no progress whatsoever will result from these reforms unless stakeholders are involved in the decision making process. Imported solutions will remain adequate and functional only on paper. The real world, however, will keep suffering from the ministry’s negligence of educators, and randomness in managing the field of education. 

Abdelmjid Seghir is a teacher of English, writer and public speaker. He holds a BA in TEFL and ICT from Ibn Zohr university, Agadir in 2010. His areas of interest include a variety of topics such as ICT, education, culture and cultural issues, photography and sports. His articles, papers and short stories have been published in many paper-based as well as electronic outlets. These include the American Language Center’s magazine “Oasis” and MATE’s (Moroccan Association of Teachers of English) 2012 conference proceedings. Seghir speaks in seminars and gives presentations at MATE’s conferences on a regular basis.

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