Day 16 - Casablanca

In the morning we met Dr. Fadwa Chaker, Director of Research, Associate Professor of English at Hassan II University in Casablanca. She is an entrepreneur and talked about her project. She bought land and got donations and she is building her own preschool.

Then, we met Dr. Zoila’s Mansouri, Professor of English at Hassan II University in Casablanca (see photos to the left). She is a professor who is a union member and strong advocate for education reform. She broke down the history of education in Morocco starting with the first university in the world, Al-Quaraouiyine, started in 859 by 2 sisters, Fatima and Maryam in Fez. She told us of the reforms in education over the years, the French colonial influence and the switching of the language instruction. She mentioned that the biggest obstacle for education reform is political. This is because while the king Mohammad VI has education reform as a national priority and has written into law that an agenda must be followed no matter who is in parliament, the current head of parliament is ignoring that law.

Left: Dr. Zoila Mansouri with Moroccan American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (MACECE) Director Dr. Rebecca Geffner, as well as program officer Ikram Boukary and Dr. Elsa Wiehe from Boston University African Studies.