Costly private tutors supplement traditional Moroccan education

13/06/2008

An increasing number of Moroccans see expensive private tutors and remedial classes as essential to their children's academic success, but as what was once a luxury becomes commonplace, many families are struggling with the additional financial burden.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 13/06/08

[Getty Images] Moroccan teachers and other enterprising individuals are increasingly working as private tutors. Many families have begun to view their services – and the associated costs – as the norm.

The phenomenon of supplementing traditional – and free – education in Morocco with expensive private classes or tutors has taken hold in recent years, with parents and pupils finding themselves "forced" to resort to this solution in order to improve grades.

For many students, paying for school "outside" of school is the only way to fill in the academic gap created by overcrowded classes and an insurmountable course load. For families, however, especially those with several children in school at once, it poses a heavy financial burden.

There is no level of school education which is free from this supplemental tutoring trend; from parents of young school children to those with teenagers preparing for the baccalaureate exams, everyone feels forced to pay for private classes. Nurse Fatima Nebbar typifies this new kind of over-stressed, competitive Moroccan parent. She has to resort to this method to guarantee her children’s success at the end of the year, she tells Magharebia.

She has three children taking extra lessons. Two of them are only in primary school.

"Some teachers force the pupils to have extra hours of tutoring to get good marks, even if they are already at a good level. This is the case for my children, who were endlessly harassed by their schoolmistresses because they weren’t taking extra lessons at the start," she says. Her eldest, Ahmed, says that under pressure from the maths teacher, he was forced to join those pupils paying for extracurricular support lessons.

"He deliberately failed to explain things properly in class and insinuated that those who wanted to succeed and improve their level had no choice but to take some extra hours of tutoring with him. And that costs 250 dirhams a month," Ahmed adds.

The practice is becoming increasingly widespread, even though this kind of "off-the books" supplementary teaching is banned by the national education ministry. It is also unbecoming for a member of the teaching community to get involved in this sort of business, says teacher Mohamed Sijilmassi: "A teacher is supposed to educate generations. It’s a civic duty. But sadly, ethical values have changed."

Teachers who resort to this practice put forward a number of excuses. Salima, who supplements her income by giving private classes on the side, says that if teachers were paid according to their true value, the phenomenon would never have come into existence.

"It is difficult to make ends meet with the salary they give us. You really need some other source of income to afford your daily needs," she says. She adds, however, that a teacher should not force pupils to take extra lessons outside of school, but instead encourage the weakest academic performers to improve inside the regular classes. "But in the real world, that never happens," she admits.

According to sociologist Jamal Brahmi, it is not just the teachers who are to blame: the phenomenon is linked to changes in Moroccan society. Parents who are too busy and don’t have the time to look at what their children are doing prefer easy solutions. "Parents prefer to contract out the business of going over their children’s school work so that they can enjoy their free time. The family shuns its responsibilities," he argues.

"Attitudes towards extra tutoring have changed over the years," Brahmi adds. They have, in fact, become a fashion to be followed, whereas a few years ago they were seen as something which was offered to just the lazy pupils."

Teacher Karim El Mhidi denies accusations that teachers are fabricating this prosperous side business, saying that that even if the teacher is not giving lessons directly, the pupils head on their own for private learning centres which specialise in whichever subject they need. "Over recent years, the trade in supplemental courses has flourished. This is a success story," he says.

[Getty Images] Some unemployed graduates have opened tutoring businesses to escape the clutches of unemployment.

Indeed, a good number of young people are using this method to escape the clutches of unemployment. Hicham Jabri, who graduated in chemistry and physics in 1994, collaborated with several of his friends in 2006 to set up a centre for school support classes in English, French, math and science.

"I was giving lessons from time to time to a few of the neighbours’ children to earn a few dirhams at the end of the month. After this, my unemployment dragged on, and I decided to set up a project with my mates, which worked well. There are a lot of them coming to make use of our services," he says proudly.

Salim Mahmoudi, 14, is one of the centre's pupils. He tells Magharebia he was very weak in maths and that thanks to Hicham, he has been able to catch up in this subject. "I was taking lessons with my teacher. But despite that, I didn't manage to understand, because the teacher was happy just to train us for the exams we’d be taking in class. Now, after two years at the centre, I’m quite able to choose a science specialisation in high school," he announces.

According to the National Education Ministry, the State is doing all it can to support those pupils who are achieving at a lower level than their classmates. Since 2006, monitoring units have been set up in hundreds of school establishments, with plans to roll them out across the country at a later date. The aim is to prevent school delinquency by identifying pupils who are in danger of failing and offering them remedial classes.

Civil society is also active in this field. A number of associations give support classes free of charge to the poorest pupils to help them improve their academic level and combat school drop-outs, which affect thousands of children in Morocco. Mohamed Souilmi, a member of the Al Amal association, has a degree in French literature. He teaches French and maths three times a week to dozens of pupils in his district. "After work, I try to find some free time to help those close to me," he tells Magharebia.

"I don’t have the means to support them financially. I use my knowledge to be of use to them and I’m happy when the results are palpable," the volunteer tutor says with a broad smile.