Vocational Schooling In Morocco

Vocational Schooling One of the most important changes introduced by the French was creating vocational schools. By the end of the French protectorate, there were 16 vocational schools throughout Morocco (Laskier, 1983). The French were incredibly inconsistent when it came to their rule of Morocco. They wanted to avoid the mistakes and the full out colonialism that they had imposed in Algeria but still wanted to create and rule a society that would meet French needs and represent French values. This was most evident in their vocational training programs. Vocational training programs were focused on training the native population to be more skilled at manual labor professions because the French thought that it would be the best tool in helping

The schools embraced modern techniques, but also took advantage of some traditional methods, e.g. some of the students were learning book binding, and at the same time studying traditional Quranic wood painting. Ultimately the vocational schools turned out to have more freedom with their lesson planning and structure than would typically be expected. This fact is easily explained by practical reasons; there was a shortage of French teachers who would consistently oversee the students at all times. This issue can have controversial reasons, - either the French fostered a lot of faith in the local population, or arrogantly assumed that their methods were working by themselves. The French also displayed conspicuous favoritism in these schools. They decided which of the pupils were of ‘higher intelligence’ and put them into more advanced practical skill areas, thus providing them with a greater professional opportunity after schooling. The vocational schools not only serviced the young population of Morocco but were also particularly important for the adult population as they served to teach the adults new skills as well. Due to the highly practical nature of those schools, subjects considered ‘non-useful’, were simply left out, e.g. the field of art education was never a priority apart from a few subjects pertaining to traditional

Ahmed Slami, a prominent figure in the Istiqlal party, also aimed for Morocco to become a bilingual nation. His argument was that it would be in the best interests of young Moroccans to come from a bilingual environment, as it would be beneficial in the long term when young Moroccans would take their place in the Western World. While it would be better tradition-wise to have an Arab-based education, it wouldn't be for the benefit of Moroccans to be raised completely in the Arab-Muslim traditions as it could close the doors to the Western World. The issue of language also impacted the standing of women in Moroccan society. In the Middle Ages very few women received traditional Arabic education. Up until the XX century classical Arabic was for the most part the dominion of law and religion, hence only men had access to Arabic education. Vernacular Arabic was spoken at home, but after colonialism this situation changed. Now Arabic-based education was available for both men and