King Hassan II advocates new educational system matching training to employment
King Hassan II has stressed the need to reform the Moroccan educational system and to adapt training to the needs of the employment market.
This came in a message the king addressed on Monday to the chairman of the special commission in charge of drafting the reform of the educational and training system.
King Hassan II had announced the setting up of the special commission last Wednesday in a speech to the nation on the occasion of the Throne Day (March 3) and appointed his advisor, Abdelaziz Meziane Belfqih, chairman of the commission.
The educational system as it currently stands no longer meets the requirements of modern times. Morocco needs a new system so it can take up the challenges of the coming century, the king said.
This new system, the king pointed out, must mainly ensure equality of chances to all and dispense fundamental knowledge to all Moroccans to relieve them from the grips of ignorance, spare them illiteracy and endow them with a basic education so that they will be useful to themselves, to their relatives and to their homeland.
According to official figures, illiteracy stands at more than 52 percent of the Moroccan population.
The new system must likewise meet Morocco's increasing needs in skilled professionals, technical cadres and managerial staff to ensure management and production in all sectors and all fields, the sovereign said.
"In a world torn apart by civilizational currents and marked by clashes between moral values and cultural identities, our educational system must consolidate the principles of our Islamic religion which advocates the happy medium, moderation, tolerance and overture onto science and knowledge, and must preserve our moral and national values," King Hassan II said.
The king also stressed the need to improve the teaching of the national language, Arabic, and at the same time to see to it that Moroccan pupils master other foreign languages to be able to take up the challenges posed by globalization.
King Hassan II asked the special commission that will be made up of some thirty members representing political parties, trade unions, ulemas (theologians) and educational experts, to draft a national charter on education and training and to submit the text by the end of the current academic year.