Why do we need to teach civic education, engagement and democracy values in Moroccan Universities?
By Halima Ouamouch
Morocco World News
Casablanca, March 11, 2012
The democratization process in Morocco
faces many challenges related, among others, to a feeble democratic
culture and practice and civic engagement. Without educating the
student community –the most vital component of society – on these values
and practices, the process will remain slow, fragile and
unsustainable. This community can be a reliable agent of change though
it suffers from several challenges. Clearly there is a weak political
and civic engagement; lack of perspective in terms of career visibility;
identity and belonging crisis and over-fascination with Western living
standards.
Hence, our democratic deficiency is
partially due to the lack of civic values and practices at the
grass-root levels. The student community feeds all spheres and
contributes consequently to the reproduction of the same underlying
values (most of them are not civically-oriented). Unless this community
is empowered, Morocco will remain weak and vulnerable. Consequently,
mainstreaming civic engagement and democracy values in curriculum and
research, along with related decision-making processes and advocacy, is
certainly one of the recommended paths toward an open and democratic
Moroccan society.
This educational strategy has the
potential to create a certain momentum for change towards the
mainstreaming of civic engagement and democracy by research and
education in Moroccan universities. It is noteworthy that no robust and
comprehensive initiative has been undertaken in this direction so far.
Even in social sciences teaching affiliations, civic engagement is not
systematically incorporated.
It is important to initiate relevant
research and develop more synergy between involved actors and final
users of inputs. The university will serve as a dynamic source of
creative ideas, a space for free interaction and exchange with all
stakeholders, and a training and advocacy-based instrument. Also, it
will serve as an incubator for innovative ideas, leadership cultivation
and civic-oriented initiatives. The use of ICTs as a leverage and
platform will make our universities and their policy more inclusive.
It is high time to face and deal with
the low rates of participation in the civic life of Morocco in voting,
in advocacy, in local grassroots associations, and in other forms of
civic engagement that are necessary for the vitality of our
democratization process.
By increasing the number of students who
understand and are committed to engaging in meaningful civic actions,
it will be possible to overcome the current deficient situation.
Moroccan universities are invited to
open up on each other regardless of their different specializations,
hence reinforcing the interdisciplinary character of their education
programs. They will certainly refresh their attractiveness by
reorienting their missions and agenda via the incorporation of civic
education dimension. If we complain about the crisis, if not failure,
of our educational system, I think we need to bring the university down
from its ivory tower to embrace a large and active community through
service learning and civic engagement-oriented activities.
Halima Ouamouch is Professor of English studies at the University of Hassan II, Casablanca.
