Wednesday, April 18, 2007

people and education in morocco


PEOPLE
Moroccans are predominantly Sunni Muslims of Arab, Berber, or mixed Arab-Berber ancestry. The Arabs brought Islam, along with Arabic language and culture, to the region from the Arabian Peninsula during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. Today, there remains a Jewish community of approximately 5,000, and a largely expatriate Christian population of 5,000, who enjoy religious freedom and full civil rights. Morocco is also home to a 300-500-person Baha’i community which, in recent years, has been able to worship free from government interference.

Arabic is Morocco's official language, but French is widely taught and serves as the primary language of commerce and government. Moroccan colloquial Arabic is composed of a unique combination of Arabic, Berber and French dialects. Along with Arabic, about 10 million Moroccans, predominantly in rural areas, also speak one of the three Moroccan Berber dialects (Tarifit, Tashelhit, and Tamazight). Spanish is also used in the northern part of the country. English is rapidly becoming the foreign language of choice among educated youth and is offered in all public schools from the fourth year on.

Most people live west of the Atlas Mountains, a range that insulates the country from the Sahara Desert. Casablanca is the center of commerce and industry and the leading port; Rabat is the seat of government; Tangier is the gateway to Spain and also a major port; "Arab" Fes is the cultural and religious center; and "Berber" Marrakech is a major tourist center.

Education in Morocco is free and compulsory through primary school (age 15). Nevertheless, many children--particularly girls in rural areas--do not attend school. The country's literacy rates reveals sharp gaps in education, both in terms of gender and location; while country-wide literacy rates are estimated at 39% among women and 64% among men, the female literacy rate in rural areas is only 10%.

Morocco is home to 14 public universities. Mohammed V University in Rabat is one of the country’s most famous schools, with faculties of law, sciences, liberal arts, and medicine. Karaouine University, in Fes, is a longstanding center for Islamic studies and is the oldest university in the Maghreb. Morocco has one private, English language university, Al-Akhawayn, in Ifrane, founded in 1993 by King Hassan II and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. The curriculum is based on an American model.

education : Pre-school and primary


The new teaching organization comprises a pre-school teaching, a primary education teaching, a collegial teaching, a secondary education and a higher education.
This reorganization will be based on the joint bases, progressive specialization and the footbridges on all the levels.

Once the generalization of obligatory teaching sufficiently advanced, will be carried out to articulations and following regroupings, on the plans teaching and administrative, thus, the lesson pre-school and primary will be integrated to constitute a coherent educational base "the primary education" one 8 years duration, composed of two cycles: the basic cycle which will gather the pre-school one and the first cycle of the primary education, and the intermediate cycle which will be consisted of the second cycle of the primary education.

Are defined in the text which follows the objectives of the Moroccan system of education and training, which will be concretized and installation by the reform. Pre-school and primary education will aim at the achievement of the following general objectives:

a. to guarantee to all the Moroccan children, as of the possible youth, including by integrating the advanced part of pre-school, the maximum of equal opportunity of success in their school life and, thereafter in their professional life;

b. to ensure, with all, the teaching environment and the framing stimulants to support:

1- the full blooming of their potentialities.
2- the appropriation of the values religious, ethical, civic and human essential to become citizens proud of their identity and their inheritance, conscious of their history and socially integrated and active.
3-the training of knowledge and aptitudes of comprehension and expression, in Arab language, the support, if need be, on the regional languages and dialects.
4-the functional communication in a first language, then a second language foreign object of Lever 9 of this charter;
5-the acquisition of the fundamental knowledge and the capacities which develop the autonomy of learning.
6-control of the concepts and the methods of reflexion, communication, action and adaptation allowing to be useful, productive, able to evolve/move and continue to learn, lasting the life, in perfect harmony with the national and world environment.
7-The training of skills technical, professional, sporting and artistic basic directly related to the socio-economic environment of the school. Pre-school teaching will be connected to L ` primary education teaching which will be structured in two cycles, as envisaged in the articles below.

Pre-school teaching is opened to the old children of four year completed at six years. It will have as a general objective, during two years, to facilitate physical, cognitive and emotional blooming of the child, the development of his autonomy and its socialization, in particular through:

1-The development of the skills sensorio-motor coaches, space-time, semiological, imaginative and expressive.
2-L ` initiation with the values religious, ethical and civic basic.
3-The exercise with the practical and artistic activities elementary (drawing, modelling, painting, role plaies, songs and music...).
4-Activities of preparation to the training of the reading and the writing in Arab language, in particular through the control of oral Arabic, and while being based on the mother tongues.
5-The primary school, one six years duration, is opened to the children resulting from pre-school and, on a purely transitory basis, to the children who did not profit from it, six years old completed, like with the pupils coming from the traditional schools, in the level for which they are qualified. It is structured in two cycles.

The First Cycle of the Primary school, one two years duration, has as a principal objective the consolidation and the extension of the trainings of pre-school, to make acquire with all the Moroccan children, arriving at the eight years age, a common and harmonious base of instruction and socialization, preparing them to continue, with a maximum of their training, equal opportunity on the levels of later teaching.

In addition to, the deepening of the processes of instruction and socialization started with pre-school, this cycle will aim particularly:
The acquisition of knowledge and basic aptitudes of comprehension and expression written and oral in Arab language, initiation with the use of a first foreign language, the acquisition of the basic concepts of medical prevention and environmental protection.
The blooming of the iconic, graphic and ludic capacities, initiation with the concepts of order, classification and seriation, in particular through handling of concrete objects.
The appropriation of the rules of life in company and the values of reciprocity, co-operation and solidarity.

The Second Cycle of the Primary school, one four years duration, will be opened to the children resulting from the first cycle of this same school.
This cycle will have as principal objectives, in addition to what article 65 stipulates above, the thorough development of the abilities of the children and early blooming their capacities, in particular through:

1-The deepening and extension of the trainings acquired to the preceding cycles in particular on the religious, civic and ethical levels;
2-The development of the abilities of comprehension and expression, in Arab language, necessary to all the disciplinary trainings.
3-The training of the reading, the writing and the expression in the first foreign language.
4-The development of the operational structures of the practical intelligence, in particular by the application of the concrete operations of seriation, classification, numeration, calculation and space-time orientation, as well as working methods.
5-The discovery of the concepts, the concepts, the systems and the basic techniques applied to the environment natural, social and cultural immediate of the pupil, including the local and regional businesses.
6-The first initiation with modern technologies of information, communication and interactive creation.
7-L ` initiation with the functional use of a second foreign language, while centering, at the beginning, on the oral and phonetic familiarisation.

The end of the primary school is sanctioned by a certificate of primary studies. During the limited period, during the progressive installation of this new teaching organization of pre-school and primary education:
a. the 6 years old children completed will reach the first cycle of current fundamental teaching.
b. the progression of the children having followed a pre-school education will be accelerated, after one period of one quarter observation. This acceleration can involve their direct passage on a higher level of this same cycle, according to objective and precise teaching conditions'.
c. will be carried out to coordination, the modernization and the standardization of pre-school education as a whole and to the preparation of the integration of the four year old children completed to pre-school, new formula, progressively with its installation.