Pioneering school: the minister hails a success, the deputies point out the shortcomings

This program “was successful in its experimental phase», welcomed the Minister of National Education, Mohamed Saâd Berrada, without convincing the audience, which included the leader of the Popular Movement (MP) group, Driss Sentissi.

According to the minister, this success is based on an evaluation conducted by the Morocco Innovation and Evaluation Lab (MEL), the result of a collaboration between the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Harvard Center for International Development (CID), and Community Jameel.

The experiment, piloted last year in 600 schools and affecting 300,000 children, revealed convincing results. “In comparison with the “classic” school, the students of the Pioneer School answered 60 questions out of 100 correctly, compared to 40 for their counterparts, an improvement of 50% in six months.», declared the minister. According to the initiators of the program, the experience far exceeded expectations, reaching “an excellent score of 0.9“. This year, the program was extended to 2,000 schools, benefiting 1.3 million children, he said. The results, measured since October, were considered favorable after six weeks of implementation, thanks to the support of the J-PAL system and UM6P.

«Today, according to experts, the success of the educational system of the Pioneer School is indisputable», affirmed the minister.

However, this statement sparked a strong reaction from MPs. “We received answers far from reality. They were purely quantified, while we expected the minister to explain his efforts to improve the quality of our education», Regretted MP Driss Sentissi. “We wanted to know the level of training offered to the 30,000 striking teachers who were recruited. Without adequate training for these teachers, there will be no significant improvement in teaching“, he added. According to him, “The Pioneer School is a categorical and selective education».

For her part, Khadija Arouhal, MP for the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS), strongly criticized the minister for insufficient efforts to promote the Amazigh language in schools. “There are few efforts to consolidate the teaching of the Amazigh language in our schools. Teachers of this language, instead of teaching Amazigh to students, are assigned to other subjects», she lamented. Management deemed inconsistent with the commitments made by the government in terms of cultural diversity.