French School in Morocco Sparks Debate Over Ramadan Accommodation

The personnel of the French education system in Morocco will participate in the 11693-20-INTERLANGUE training - Developing oral skills in languages through the playful approach and theatrical games, which will be held on March 18 and 19, 2025 at the Lyautey high school, specifies the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE) in a correspondence addressed to the participants. This training will take place during the sacred month of Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims. The AEFE then asks them to indicate to it within 72 hours by return email if they wish to benefit from the lunch. This has sparked a lively controversy.

In an email addressed to Bladi.net, one of the participants says he is "shocked by" this request "made to the personnel of the French education system in Morocco to declare in advance whether they were fasting or not during the upcoming Ramadan". The participants appreciate the AEFE’s request in various ways. "Several colleagues at the high school considered that there was nothing to say and that it was a way to ensure that the Toulouse operator Newrest would not make unnecessary waste... Others, on the other hand, consider that it is an infringement of individual freedoms and that constituting lists of people following the fast (or not) was a serious violation of people’s freedoms and could potentially endanger them," he adds.