Moroccan Students’ End-of-Year Ritual: Tearing Up Textbooks Sparks Controversy

Tearing and scattering notebooks and books, as well as homework on the streets or in front of schools at the end of the school year. This has become a tradition for many Moroccan students. This year, they are numerous to sacrifice this strange tradition. Images shared on social media show jubilant students in front of their schools tearing and scattering their notebooks and books on the ground before leaving the premises left in a desolate state.

This phenomenon of notebooks and homework torn up by students at the end of the school year has elicited mixed reactions. Some believe it is a failure and a moral and educational setback among the youth, requiring a study by specialists. Others wonder about the motivations that drive these students to tear up notebooks and books on the last day of the school year, and about the message they want to convey through this act. According to some students, it is a way for them to express their joy at the end of the school year, like a festive ritual symbolizing their liberation from school constraints and the stress of exams.