Peace is taught as a key component of respectful human relations and a major foreign policy goal.
(February 21, 2023 / JNS) Peace and tolerance are central themes in the Moroccan curriculum and promoted in textbooks across multiple grades and subjects, a new report finds.
“Students learn about practical conflict resolution, and Islamic scripture is used to highlight religious tolerance and peacemaking,” a summary of the document states.
The report also found that Morocco’s Jewish community is treated with sympathy and respect in textbooks. The Jewish community is represented as an “inseparable part of Morocco,” and government efforts “to preserve Jewish heritage are highlighted.”
Marcus Sheff, CEO of the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), said: “We are struck by this unique embrace of Jews and Judaism in the reformed Moroccan school curriculum, a project of King Mohammed VI.
“The affection through which Morocco’s Jewish community and its customs are represented as well as the lives of individual Moroccan Jews is heart-warming. We are welcomed into the homes of the Jewish community through the textbooks and learn that Jews are entwined in the national and cultural fabric of Morocco,” he added.