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Join on Telegram Rabat – The Regional Academy of Education and Training (AREF) of Morocco’s Casablanca-Settat region plans to increase the number of children with special needs who benefit from the inclusive education program to 4,000 during the 2020-2021 academic year.
The inclusive education program benefited only 2,653 during the previous school year.
AREF said Casablanca-Settat has increased the number of inclusive public establishments from 444 to 700 across the region to facilitate the students’ integration.
Othman Sakhi, the head of inclusive education at AREF, said that the special offices under the 16 provincial directorates are “called upon to give stance to the vision by implementing the provisions of Project 4.”
The project relates to the education of children with specific needs or in special situations, including refugees or children returning from abroad. It comes in accordance with framework law 51-17 on the education, training, and scientific research system which provides for a series of institutional and educational measures.
Sakhi said that activism and awareness campaigns ensured the success of upgrading the education system. Such campaigns encouraged families of people with special needs to send their children to school.
He added that resource rooms for qualification and support will reinforce existing school facilities. The number of resource rooms in the region has doubled from 101 to 200.
Approximately 100 associations are active in this field in Casablanca-Settat, of which 27 operate under an agreement with AREF.
Meanwhile, around 37 associations work under agreements with the provincial directorates, while 16 have direct agreement with a school.
Some 22 other associations have activity permits within schools in the region.
AREF also seeks to provide training for 5,000 teachers to align education services with the needs of inclusive education at preschools, primary schools, and secondary schools.
Training in inclusive education benefited more than 500 teachers, 184 principals, and 10 inspectors in 2020. Associations active in the sector and families of children with special needs also received training, he said.
In October, Morocco’s Minister of Education Saaid Amzazi and Minister of Solidarity Jamila El Moussali pledged to actively work towards making Moroccan schools more inclusive.
Discussions mainly focused on the implementation of Framework Law 51-17, relating to the inclusion of students in vulnerable situations in the education system.
Through law 51.17, Morocco seeks to improve education and scientific research and to ensure a “supportive” and inclusive education for all pupils without discrimination.
