Morocco’s Education Crisis: Nearly Half of Primary Math Teachers Lack College Degrees

At the primary level, 43% of students have mathematics teachers who stopped at high school, compared to an international average of 5%. Apart from Italy, which stands out with a serious share of 59% of schoolchildren having teachers with no higher education degree, in half of the countries surveyed, this share is 0, reports L’Economiste.

Only 8% of children have math and science teachers with a master’s or doctoral degree. More than half of the students, or 53%, are supervised by high school graduates, while the international average is 5%. Regarding specialization, only 3% of schoolchildren have mathematics and science teachers trained in primary education and in mathematics and science.

At the middle school level, more than a third of middle school students are supervised by mathematics teachers who have barely finished high school, compared to a global average of 2%. 11% of middle school students have mathematics teachers with a master’s or doctoral degree. In science, 16% of students have teachers with just a high school diploma and 15% have a teacher with a bachelor’s degree, and most teachers are graduates in their subject.

Regarding continuing education, Moroccan teachers are less trained than internationally in the last two years and need quality supervision to ensure a good level for their students. Moreover, two or three years ago, teachers were still hired on the basis of a bachelor’s degree, without further training in the field.

Even if the consequences of past mistakes will be felt for many years to come, the National Education is planning to renew 80% of the staff in the next ten years, by recruiting more than 200,000 teachers.