Morocco Threatens Sanctions on Foreign Schools Challenging Its Values

Rabat – Morocco’s government is pledging to take action against foreign mission schools challenging the country’s values, according to a statement by Minister of Education Chakib Benmoussa during a parliament session on Monday.

During his address, Benmoussa acknowledged that the Ministry of Education “notes from time to time, either through textbooks or teaching practices, the presence of dysfunctions.”

In response, the ministry has “asked all local education managements to set up regional commissions responsible for exercising strict control over these establishments, whether on the programs or the textbooks used.”

“Everything must be in total conformity and in respect with national and religious values, national and territorial unity, as well as national identity,” he said.

The official stressed that the ministry makes sure that Moroccan students studying in foreign mission schools are provided classes covering the Arabic language, history, geography, and Moroccan culture, under “adequate conditions and in accordance with the official programs of national education.”

With regards to school textbooks containing content opposing Morocco’s territorial integrity, Benmoussa stressed the need for serious and local control going as far as taking what he called “necessary sanctions.”

Benmoussa’s remarks came after mounting concerns as some foreign mission schools —particularly French establishments— sparked a series of controversies for teaching LGBT+ related content or for challenging Morocco’s territorial integrity in their curricula.

Earlier this year, parents of Moroccan students enrolled at the International Louis Massignon high school in Bouskoura, Casablanca shared concerns after discovering that the establishment used a truncated Moroccan map in one of its exam papers.

In April, Member of Parliament Hanane Atarguine accused some schools of systematically opposing the country’s sovereignty over Western Sahara and exposing Moroccan students to teachings and interpretations that challenge the country’s “religious identity and values.”