Morocco Investigates French School Over Alleged LGBTQ Content, Religious Insensitivity

A case that has been making a lot of noise in Morocco since December 2022. A teacher at the Honoré de Balzac school in Kénitra, which is part of the French mission schools abroad, "presented information on homosexuality and abnormal tendencies and disseminated insulting ideas about Islamic personalities and symbols that affect the religious belief of the children, and calls on them to accept homosexual conceptions and to disseminate perceptions praising same-sex relationships," said Abderrahim Jamai, the parents’ lawyer, in a statement to the local press.

In the eyes of the parents of the students, this is a "serious aggression against the children, affecting their cultural identity, their social environment and their psychological stability, in addition to being subjects that are not suitable for their age and they are unable to discuss their meanings, understand their dimensions or express an opinion about it," added the lawyer, specifying that the children concerned are less than 10 years old, "which makes it a odious exploitation of their childhood. "A crime against them and a pedagogical deviation of the teacher towards children who need appropriate support," he was outraged.

Parents of students reported the incident to the school administration. But they "lost patience" after the school administration "remained silent and indifferent to put an end to the behavior of the teacher concerned, and brought the case before the judicial authorities of Kénitra at the beginning of the current year," in order to "protect the schoolchildren," explained Abderrahim Jamai. He also said that the public prosecutor’s office has taken over the file and opened preliminary proceedings, "which has reassured the parents and families who, despite this, live with great anxiety after the behavior of the teacher and the school administration, due to the repercussions on the psychological and academic future of their children."