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Rabat – STM school in Fez is an innovative and brave initiative that addresses the need for innovation for the reform of the Moroccan education system, said Aziz Daouda, former technical director of the Royal Moroccan Athletics Federation.
“Our schools need to change and to do so they need to follow other pedagogical approaches,” Daouda said on May 7 at the inauguration ceremony of the new STM school in Fez.
Technical and Development Director of Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Aziz Daouda giving his speech
Expressing his delight in witnessing the foundation of the first Moroccan STEM school, Daouda stated that the newly adopted and unfamiliar approach “will surprise the parents and even the students themselves.”
STM School in Fez is inspired by the STEM interdisciplinary approach that seeks to help students in their future careers.
Instead of focusing on one of the scientific domains, the STEM approach covers all of science, technology, engineering, and, mathematics, in an interdisciplinary to better equip students to meet real-world expectations.
STEM acronym was first introduced by scientific operators at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in the 2000s.
The approach has become the most sought after educational approach in the US, one of the countries that contributed to its expansion.
Official inauguration of STM School in Fez
Daouda emphasized the importance of reform in education, saying: Bravery is essential for reform and change and that only “people of science” can create such innovative projects. Daouda further noted that the Moroccan administration – including the education ministry and other government bodies – would take decades to establish such a reform.
STM Fez school “will open new horizons for a new form of education that experts have been calling for so long but it was hard to achieve since it requires bravery,” he added.
Daoudi also spoke of Fez’s leading role in creating and promoting innovation, calling it “the first city where women were taught at a time when school was a taboo. Fez was [also] the first place [in Morocco] where women wore jellaba.”
Inauguration ceremony at STM School
Read Also: COVID-19 Furthers Digitization, Technological Innovation in Morocco
Because Fez is a city of innovation, Daouda argued, “this innovative educational approach [at STM school] will grow in the Fez but needs to spread across Morocco. We need to be brave to create tools for our children to work in the future.”
For him, it is “dangerous that parents, the administration, the government, and teachers think that they are teaching [these children] to work in the future.” The inherent uncertainty of the future demands bravery and boldness in the way parents and educators today prepare children for the challenges of tomorrow, he argued.
President and founder of STM School Samir Bennis with former Minister of Tourism Lahcen Haddad
“We are not aware of tomorrow’s professions,” Daouda said. “Only children aged 6,7,8 today are the ones that will know the jobs of tomorrow. Thus our school must provide them with tools to create future jobs.”
Risk-taking and a tendency to think outside the box are essential traits of the world’s most successful individuals, he argued, saying that much of their success stemmed from their willingness and courage to shift from traditional education systems to embrace other innovative approaches.
“At a certain moment, they left the regular education system and moved to something else. But when they got their ideas, the people let them work and supported them,” he explained.
Daouda urged the parents to trust the STEM system and to perceive it as a path to train future leaders. He added that parents should eventually notice their children’s growth when they compare their children’s knowledge and capabilities with other Moroccan students in the traditional education system.
They “will notice the difference and see how some [their children] are in the sky and others in the underground,” he concluded. “Parents should trust [this new initiative] and see it as a means to [turn] their children into tomorrow’s leaders.”
STM Headquarters
What differentiates STM school in Fez?
Working with an accomplished team with over 20 years of experience, STM school in Fez will introduce a balanced education curriculum mixing science classes with extracurricular activities adapted to each student’s needs.
The activities will strengthen the students’ physical, mental, artistic, and social capabilities. STM will also offer an entertaining and creativity-fostering summer program.
President and founder of STM School in Fez Samir Bennis giving his speech
The newly-established school focuses on science education in a tri-linguistic setting, with English at the core of the program. The linguistic diversity of the curriculum provides a “perfect combination for a bright future full of opportunities for students,” according to Samir Bennis, director of STM School.
“STM School’s goal, put simply, is to nurture the students’ curiosity to understand the world around them through science, to bolster the students’ academic skills, life skills, and mental habits enabling them to thrive in any field,” Bennis said during the school’s inauguration. “We wanted to establish a school that would enhance the Moroccan educational program and remedy its shortcomings.”
