Khalid Barkaoui
Everyone clearly agrees that our education system is failing, that our educational spaces are sinking into an unprecedented crisis and that our students are disoriented and no longer know which way to turn. An unpleasant and worrying situation that encourages us to reflect collectively and to take not only drastic measures, but also crucial decisions to get out of this rut and reconnect with academic success.
It is time to give our schools a great deal of leeway to make the difficult and appropriate decisions in order to set them on the path to success and learning.
What should a school recommend as a priority in the face of a bitter observation of a high dropout rate, an impressive rate of students who have difficulty deciphering a syllable, who cannot understand the teacher’s instructions, in short, what deal with students with serious learning difficulties: finish the program or help students to learn, to keep their minds alert, to continue to come to class en masse with joy of heart and enthusiasm?
We have to recognize that today we need pedagogical leaders who have a clear vision and irreproachable visibility. Highly qualified school leaders to lead the teaching team to achieve measurable goals. Directors capable of instilling a dynamic of sustained work, a dynamic of collaborative work and collective intelligence to help their cohorts of students learn, progress, evolve and achieve learning objectives. Among these clearly outlined objectives are the perfect mastery of the fundamentals: reading, writing, speaking and arithmetic. It is unacceptable that we continue to take the same tortuous path that inevitably leads us to the abyss and uncertainty. A chasm supported by the ranking of our country at the back of the pack in the various international tests. An uncertainty corroborated by the alarming figures of the PNEA 2019.
At some point, you have to stop and make the difficult, but relevant and lucid decision: suspend the school program and work on the fundamentals.
It is true that the major concern that must haunt us all like a leitmotif is not the completion of the program, but getting each student to learn at his own pace.
We are required to nurture motivation, to promote the pleasure of learning, to enhance the self-confidence of our students, to keep them awake and fulfilled in an attractive and motivating school environment.
It is unthinkable to continue to provide, by way of example, more or less complex grammar lessons to a student in 5AEP or 6AEP and who has difficulty decoding syllables and functional words. It is an aberration and an early encouragement to definitively leave the classroom and therefore school without the required qualifications and without training.
We just need this pinch of reflection to make the right decisions in order to maintain the priority role of the school: a haven of learning and knowledge.
Khalid Barkaoui
Member of the AMEF CP de Boulemane.