Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Education Saaid Amzazi and Francois Reybet-Degat of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed on Thursday an agreement to integrate refugees into the national education system.
Refugees and their children will be the partnership’s beneficiaries, as it aims to offer them the opportunity to learn the Arabic language and Moroccan culture.
In a statement, Amzazi referred to the framework law 51.17 that “seeks to increase the quality and accessibility of the education system” and stated, “Morocco has made equity and the right to universal access to educational institutions and training one of its priorities, as stipulated in framework law 51.17.”
Read also: OCP Equips 27 Moroccan Preparatory Classes, Commits to Advancing Education
The Moroccan government proposed the framework law in 2015 and plans to train 200,000 educators by 2030. Additionally, the framework law seeks to close the gap between the quality of education in public schools and private schools.
Both officials stated the importance of Morocco’s National Immigration and Asylum Strategy upon signing the agreement.
The UNHCR representative referred to Morocco’s migrant strategy as “an inclusive and fundamentally humanist strategy.”
Reybet-Degat added that “the signing of this Convention-partnership framework between the Ministry and UNHCR represents an important step in the work towards integration of refugees into education systems.”
In addition to Morocco’s migrant policy, the UNHCR representative noted that Morocco was the first African nation to sign the Geneva Convention of 1951 relating to the status of refugees.
In 2016, King Mohammed VI delivered a speech explaining that Morocco welcomes sub-Saharan African migrants with open arms.
Amzazi concluded by confirming the new opportunities that will benefit migrants in Morocco.
Refugees in Morocco will now have access to vocational training, higher education institutions, Arabic language training, and the validation of prior professional skills.
Reybet-Degat concluded by stating, “There are still areas on which we must continue to work together to continue the integration of refugees and immigrants into school systems particularly with regard to tertiary education and access to vocational training.”
The agreement is effective immediately and the government will work to begin integrating refugees into the national education system.
