Rabat – Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani has emphasized the need to increase information technology or IT in schools across the country.
El Othmani made his remarks during a meeting of the steering committee of the “Generalization of Information and Communication Technologies in Education” (GENIE) program.
Launched in 2016, the GENIE program is in line with Morocco’s strategy to generalize Information Technology and Communication in Education (ICTE), according to the National Agency for the legalization of communications (ANRT).
ANRT added that the program is based on four main components: “Infrastructure, teacher training, digital resources and development of uses.”
El Othmani said that increasing IT in Moroccan schools will enable future generations to underpin technological changes, which is, according to El Othmani, a decisive factor in the development process of education.
He said that increasing IT education in Moroccan schools requires the enhancement of students’ skills and pedagogical staff in the digital domain.
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Quoted by Maghreb Arab Press (MAP), El Othmani emphasized the importance of integrating content and digital resources in education development and updating programs for the next academic year.
He said that the government will ensure that all schools are equipped with IT materials by 2021.
He recalled that Morocco had made notable steps in the field of new technologies and digitalization. But he acknowledged that the efforts remain insufficient in light of the decline of Morocco in the development index of e-government for the 2018 year.
Having attended the meeting, Minister of Education Said Amzazi said that the education sector is inseparable from digilization. He added that in the digital age, Morocco needs to allow students to master digital tools.
Amzazi said that the GENIE program enabled the creation and the equipment of some 3,000 computer rooms in schools across Morocco. He added that newly recruited professors will also benefit from IT training.
Amzazi said that out of a total of 13,000 schools in Morocco’s rural areas, 7,000 schools connected to the electricity network will be equipped with computer equipment.
