Questions that many Moroccan teachers have not asked themselves

By Omar Bihmidine

Morocco World News

Sidi Ifni, Oct 24, 2012

There are a number of questions Moroccan teachers should ask themselves, but have not dared do so yet. Needless to say, there are a few exceptions. As far as I know, most of what teachers think about is teaching students in whatever circumstances and waiting for their salaries at the end of every month. Rarely do they pose questions about Morocco’s education system.

Some of them are addicted to sitting at cafes every day, reading newspapers where they read shocking news about their country, particularly about corruption in its varied forms. Still, they remain stagnant and languorous, forgetting that they are the educated elite of the neglected Moroccan masses. While reading newspapers, very few teachers ask themselves why the media seizes every opportunity to make a mockery of them.

One of the questions that Moroccan teachers must ask themselves is where the Emergency Plan has gone and what has become of it now that it has come to an end! It is high time they posed this question, “Why has the Emergency Plan not produced its long-expected effects?” It also appears that teachers have not asked themselves how much funding has been wasted on this so-called plan that has proven itself a fiasco. Even if they happen to ask this question, they can not dare speak the unspeakable about the corrupt officials in charge of the Ministry of Education. Are teachers not concerned about their field, education?

Do not they know that they have the inalienable right to ask if they have improved themselves professionally, one of the objectives set within the Emergency Plan? Why have beneficiary teachers of condition-free recruitment not asked themselves why they did not benefit from training? Or, perhaps, they feel that they do not need training?

Personally, I have never heard a teacher of the latter kind clamoring for training. Is it professional to send graduates to class without the slightest training in teaching? Teachers must ask themselves this. Clearly, it appears that they some of them are not creative and mature enough to eventually pose this question to the Moroccan government. What are our teachers waiting for? Is this question not worth posing?

Another question is why have teachers not been given a real standing ovation for their noble profession by both Moroccan society and the government? So, something must be amiss either with them, the society or the government. Why don’t they delve into this, either? In this regard, teachers must ask themselves why they are not paid well enough to lead a dignified life? Do they not deserve a respectable salary?

It is high time teachers wondered about this, too. Are not they aware that it is perhaps because of their meager salaries and therefore their tight-fisted lives that they are no longer appreciated as noble men and women/ Anyway, they must pose some questions about this aspect of their lives.

What change have teachers brought Morocco? We are not talking only about a change to the current, deplorable education system, but mainly about the corruption that has plagued and devastated some institutions under the Moroccan Ministry of education. Has Morocco moved forward because of its teachers? This is a question teachers must also bear in mind and dare ask openly. Are teachers not men of change as some of them claim, especially that they can not deign or fight the corruption at their schools? Corruption at school can be in the form of the countless victims in classes who can not utter a meaningful sentence in French, in Arabic or in English? Why don’t teachers ask about the reason for this and try to answer in all frankness no matter what that will cost them.

Why do many teachers hate to be paid a visit by their inspectors? Even if they do not to dislike that, why do they turn white and their hearts beat faster the minute they hear that the inspector is on the way to their classes? They must therefore be bold enough to ask this question for the simple reason that if they really hope to develop professionally, they must take the initiative to invite their inspectors rather than wait until the inspector comes at will, and cooperate with their inspectors rather than fear their remarks.

In the same vein, it is now a pity that even students behave well when an inspector is in class because they too know that their teacher is supervised and should not, therefore, be put in an embarrassing situation. As students, we used to tell each other, “teachers are afraid of inspectors”. Why do students say this among themselves? Here is another question teachers must ask themselves.

We often hear that teachers are men and women of change. Now, they must ask themselves what change they have brought about so that they can be called men of change? Have they, for instance, asked their so-called minister of education, Mohamed El Ouafa, to resign after he made a mockery of them? Have they, for example, gone on a one-day strike in reaction against El Ouafa’s silly, mocking statements about a schoolgirl in Marrakech?

Teachers, particularly those with enough teaching experiences, must ask themselves what they have produced in their specialty. Yes, teaching is a great, noble job, but is it enough , especially at a time when knowledge is everywhere and that the role of a teacher is no longer that of a knowledge ‘giver’, but rather that of a facilitator in the learning process?

Do teachers ask themselves why they do not read, especially that they are men and women who should above all be role model for readers? Have not teachers asked themselves why violence at school is on the increase and nothing on the part of their ministry has been done to alleviate the problem. In other words and more plainly, have not teachers asked themselves whether or not they are viewed as good-for-nothing employees of the Ministry of Education?

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy