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Rabat – The Moroccan Observatory of Inclusive Education (OMEI) announced on Wednesday that the schooling rate of children with disabilities has reached 55.1%, whereas that of people with disabilities who attained higher education hardly exceeded 1.8%.
OMEI unveiled the statistics during a conference themed “Inclusive Education Project: Progress and Challenges,” highlighting that illiteracy rate among people with disabilities reached 66.1% in 2021.
OMEI President, Ahmed Houat, stressed the need to identify the failing aspects of the educational system and the necessary mechanisms required to promote the rights of people with disabilities.
He notably emphasized that education and teaching are the backbone of inclusion, arguing that no children should be left behind or marginalized in the country’s stated youth empowerment ambitions.
The conference focused on highlighting the significant progress Morocco has made on the inclusiveness front, especially in terms of inclusive education projects for people with disabilities.
Houat said that the conference was an opportunity to assess the implementation of Morocco’s strategy for inclusive education while focusing on its achievements and complications.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Zerouki, who represented the Ministry of Solidarity, Social Inclusion and Family at the conference, indicated that the number of people benefiting from support programs has increased from 4,174 in 2015 to 16,123 in 2020.
Over a five-year period, the number increased by 257%, while the support budget for associations working in the field has increased by 298%, from MAD 44 million ($4 million) to MAD 169 million ($18 million) in the same period.
According to OMEI, the number of disabled persons’ associations across the country has also expanded from 141 to 352 between 2015 and 2020.
President of Amal association for children with learning difficulties, Mustapha Benyaich, expressed his wish to elaborate a diagnosis to identify difficulties that persist in the inclusive education programs.
Prevalent notions about disabled persons’ employment and education are discriminatory in many nations. To address this, Morocco’s government announced in 2019 a series of measures aimed at improving the living conditions of people with disabilities, particularly in the field of education and vocational training.
Earlier this year, Morocco’s Ministry of Economy announced the country’s plan to offer 400 jobs to people with special needs.
In December 2020, the government signed two partnership agreements for the promotion of the rights of people with disabilities.
One of the agreements seeks to promote inclusive education through expanding access to inclusive schools with the help of the Ministry of Education.
