Dedication

To my incredible parents, whose boundless love has been my anchor and whose
wisdom has been my guiding light. I am endlessly grateful for the warmth of your
support and the lessons engraved in every moment we have shared.

To those parents who work night and day to fulfill their children’s need.

To all our teachers whose unwavering dedication builds the foundation of our
dreams and illuminates the journey of knowledge.

To those teachers who were arrested because they had been defending public
schools.

To those who believe that they have a message and the message must be
delivered.

To those who have hope that there must be a reform in the educational system.

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The Wasted Right
When the apple fell,
people discovered
gravity. When
education fell, we
lost humanity.
Taoufik EL Hamrani

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 The Wasted Right
In the forgotten part of Morocco, where the Atlas Mountains cast shadows
over dreams, there lived a young soul named Ayoub. In a world where the promise
of education echoed against the walls of neglect, Ayoub emerged as a flickering
candle in the dimly lit corridors of change.

Ayoub always dreamed of becoming a successful person that is going to enact a

change through studying and raising people’s awareness. This was his ultimate
goal in life. Despite all the conditions in which he grew up, Ayoub kept his goal as
a priority.

Back through the years, the young boy entered elementary school, hoping that the
school would meet his needs and would help and support him to achieve his sole
dream. However, life had another plan for that. As we say, nothing comes as we
want it. Ayoub lived another reality, overcrowded classes with less tables and
mixed levels. This made him wonder, is this the kind of education I want? This is
not what I was dreaming about. Day by day, Ayoub started losing his dreams. The
kind of education he is receiving did not respond yet to his aspirations.

In spite the fact that he was a young boy, Ayoub had that sense of evaluating
things, that mature mentality that looks at the world from a different perspective.

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He had a critical view since he was Young. That view made him an optimistic
student despite everything.

I can say that Ayoub’s journey through elementary school took an unexpected turn
as he found himself far from the supportive environment he had envisioned for
pursuing his dream.

In the midst of educational challenges, he discovered a lovely teacher. She was an

unexpected source of support and inspiration to him. She, in turn, recognized his
potentials and decided to help him. Rania was a Passionate Teacher, she became
the guiding light for Ayoub to explore his interests and achieve his dream beyond
the limitations of the crowded and mixed classrooms. Ayoub appreciated the
effort done by his teacher. He knew that she came from another city, a faraway
one; it takes almost 5 hours to get to the nearest station to the village. She used to
spend one hour walking through the off roads in the mountains to reach the
village. It seems difficult for her. A newly born teacher in another environment
with a low salary far from her home. Nevertheless, she is still passionate about her
job. She still has that positive mentality and energy to support students and help
them trace their own dreams.

At home, Ayoub was doubling his effort so that he can learn more and keep in
touch with his goal. He used to share his knowledge with others as a way of
lighting the world around him. He took his teacher ideas, and pieces of advice into
consideration.

Those pieces of advice were the first step in Ayoub’s journey. A journey full of
hope, motivation, passion and patience. Passion to achieve his dream and the
patience to deal with obstacles and challenges that were set by the government. A

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government that was highly discredited by its people. Moroccan people lost trust
in the government. They don’t trust the ministers anymore. Simply, because their
words don’t show their actions.

Ayoub spent three months in the crowded-mixed-level classrooms. Three months

but he did not feel that because of the atmosphere created by his teacher Rania.
Three months of positivity, motivation, Hope and support. One day, Ayoub came
to school early as always. Yet, he discovered that the school is closed and his
teacher is not there. She went on a strike to protest against miserable conditions
we had and still have in our school. She got sick of the way the ministry of
education dealing with the field. She went on strike but she did not return. They
asked other teachers about her, they said that she was arrested because she was
protesting for her rights

Ayoub could not accept the idea. How come a person defending his or her rights
and asking for an educational reform to be arrested? It is unbelievable.

Other teachers have sympathized with her. They had been going on a strike for a
week until the repressive actors released her. Rania came back to school to
continue her teaching journey as nothing had happened. She did not want her
students to notice that no matter what. She came back with a new energy, new
motivating ideas and new love for her job.

It is not easy sometimes to keep going on the same way you started. It is not easy
to continue working with the same motivation and same love for something. It
requires a strong desire and a deep passion because people will start wondering:
How can anyone appear with the same energy after such suffering? How can they
laugh or love what they do?

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 The school year was about to end, and teachers had to give certificates and gifts
to the excellent students in each class. They had to organize a party in which they
would distribute prizes to students. Unfortunately, the school didn’t have enough
money for that. Hence, teachers paid and bought everything with their own
money. It was easy for them to give the results and send students to their parents
without any appreciation for the hard work they had done and the preservation
they had shown throughout the year. Nevertheless, their inner and infinite love for
their students pushed them to appreciate students’ efforts and encourage them to
do more.

This is our educational system's reality. Teachers do everything on their own dime.
Their only purpose is to deliver the message they have, work with conscience, and
create a suitable environment that is going to fit their students. They receive
neither the assistance nor the encouragement of the government.

The known day had come, and students got their results. Ayoub, as was expected,
got the first grade in his class. The following year, he would move to another level,
but in the same class and with the same teacher. Due to a lack of infrastructure
and materials, they will spend the following year with the same materials and
outdated textbooks

During the holiday, pupils in the village help their families either by grazing the
sheep or by plowing the land and reaping the crops. They have nothing to do in
the countryside except these activities. Nothing is related to enjoyment or
entertainment. There are no parks where people could relieve the stress of the
day.

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 In the countryside, shepherding is a way of life. Ayoub used to go with his father
to the high hills in the mountains so that the sheep and the goats could find their
favorite grace. When his father grew up and his power started fading away,
Ayoub became responsible for grazing the herd.

He wakes up in the early morning in order to reach faraway places with his herd.
His mother gives him his daily supplies. It consists of bread, oil, honey, eggs, and
some milk. Besides all of this, Ayoub takes with him a book that was given to him
by his teacher at the end of the year. The book talks about life behind the
mountains.

The writer of ‘’Behind the Mountains’’ collected stories of villagers who spent their
lives facing struggles of life while trying to live a decent life. Stories that the
government and its officials don’t know anything about. Stories that they don’t
even want to hear. Stories of people whose only goal in life is to live and raise their
kids to be better than them for achieving what they did not. Stories of villagers
who stay for weeks during the harsh winter without food.

The book was a motive for Ayoub to study and work hard to voice out his concerns
to the world. He used to believe that, like a mountain, life is also full of ups and
downs. Just as you climb to the top, you need to fight all the hurdles that come
your way to reach your dream. Life in the mountains taught villagers that they
needed to take steps carefully; otherwise, they may fall down the mountains.

During the holiday, children in the village meet from time to time while grazing
the herd. They play games like hide and seek and run after each other. Sometimes
Ayoub tells them about the stories he has found in the book. Those miserable and

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touching stories of people like them. However, those stories play the role of a
motivator for the children.

Children enjoy dreaming and sharing their dreams; nevertheless, innocent souls
with enormous dreams may meet a large wall of neglect. Not because this is the
nature of life, yet it is because life is not fair sometimes. Owing to the fact that
their geographical position is forgotten. Dreams without support is like a flower
without water, both of them die.

It was September, the new school year was about to start, and the villagers were
in a race with time to collect enough money. They needed to sell the reap to earn
some money in order to buy books, copybooks, pens, and pay the registration fees.

As always, students went to school with new energy to meet their friends and
teachers again. Teachers welcomed their students with a big smile hoping to
spend the new school year in good conditions. In the same time, they tried to
create a motivating and suitable environment for the pupils.

Teachers told them about the books they needed to buy and their covers, hoping
that they could bring them in time. They know that the libraries are far away, thus
it would take a long time for them to bring all the materials. At the beginning of
the year teachers do warm ups exercises to activate students’ schemata.

They know that most of them spent the holiday helping their families, either
shepherding for boys or doing housework for girls. That’s why, they had to
activate their students’ knowledge before tasting them in a diagnostic test.

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The first two weeks were only for familiarizing students with the atmosphere and
making them ready for the new school year. Inside all of that, Ayoub and his
friends have been ready since the first day of school. Simply because they spent
most of the holiday talking about stories, discussing their dreams, and playing
roles in the occupations they want to be in the future.

The hard work started again, and the competition about who would be the first
became at stake. Each student wanted to be the first so as to get gifts and
certificates and make his or her parents proud of them. They knew that Ayoub
would be the first in their level; therefore, they would only compete for second and
third place.

Teacher, Rania, started the lessons trying to motivate her students and keep them
motivated as long as they can. She knew that gaining knowledge is a long journey;
it is not easy to stay inspired throughout this journey. She was varying her
teaching strategies, techniques, and methods. Believing that one shoe does not fit
all, each student has his own favorite way of learning.

It takes a deep breath and a strong desire from the teacher to support students
especially students in rural areas. Rania had to work with the philosophy that says
variety is the spice of life to keep all students engaged and updated with new
issues in the current word.

Ayoub spent almost one month with his classmates. He is still sticking to his
dream—his ultimate dream. He used to appreciate the effort put in by his teacher.
One month of studying was done; it was exactly the 5th of October. It is known as
Teacher’s Day. It was cold that day, and Ayoub came with his friend, spending 45

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minutes getting to school. They used to go by foot; they didn’t have to feel the
long way to school since they used to enjoy every simple step. When they arrived,
they were surprised. Teachers are not going to work; they went out in the capital
of Morocco to protest, they were calling for better work conditions.

Since that day, Ayoub’s trip towards his dream took another way. A way that
doesn’t exist on the map, a way without directions. All of these is due to the new
mandate introduced by the ministry of education. They claimed that is going to fix
and reform education. On the flip side, Teachers and parents considered it as a
vandalism that threatens the educational system.

It is a charter that was denounced by teachers and parents; it didn’t respond to

teachers demands and aspirations. It did not take the public school into
consideration; that new mandate was aiming to neglect students and teachers, as
they are the most important link in this system. They shouldn’t be neglected; the
focus had to be on these two.

Even though he is still young, Ayoub quickly grasped what the government
intended to do with the new reform. He understood that education was going to
be private. That’s why he started to wonder: Is my father going to pay for me?

The answer was clear—absolutely not. Villagers like him are struggling just to
survive. Their purpose is to gain a livelihood that will be enough for them. They
could not send their students to private schools and pay for them.

I forgot to mention that while Ayoub was reading the book ‘’ Behind the
Mountains'', he didn’t encounter any story that talks about one of the villagers

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who found a path strewn with roses. This made him think and rethink over and
over about his goal.

Teachers were still going on a strike, as the government did not respond to them.
The officials didn’t take any steps yet; they did not even find a solution or talk
about education. One evening, Ayoub and his family were listening to news on the
radio, hoping that the ministry of education would find a solution for this.
Unfortunately, the minister of education gave provokative answers, claiming that
only a small percentage of teachers were on strike.

The young boy and his small family could not wait for the government any longer.
Fueled by determination, they gathered the villagers to discuss and address the
educational challenges their children faced. They put their hands in the teachers’
hands to make a strong and heard voice to all officials. All their demands pour into
one river, which is reforming the public school.

It has been known throughout history that if people hear a voice, they listen
carefully. They listen to its message; listen to its source, and then answer. Yet, the
Moroccan government does not have this virtue. They had not responded to
neither students nor teachers.

Ayoub started losing hope because of the walls of neglect they had found in their
way. Over eight million students are outside due to the random decisions taken by
the government. Many students lost the mood to study, and a number of them
converted to private schools. Not all families had this ability since the social
classes differed from one place to another.

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The government’s decisions, seemingly made without consideration for the impact
on the educational system, left Ayoub and other students disillusioned. The dream
of a quality education was considered a right, now it became a distant fantasy.

The walls of neglect grew taller with each passing day, turning off the aspirations
of over eight million students. Millions of candles like Ayoub turned off; their
dreams were buried in the river of neglect. Ayoub’s father couldn’t wait any
longer; he couldn’t see his son wasting his life. He took him to the field to teach
him in the school of life. He started teaching him new lessons that don’t exist in
the school. Lessons that would help him get his livelihood in the hardship times.

In life, the most meaningful support does not come from the government; it comes
from within the community we live in. While listening to the radio, as it is the
platform for the community to share their stories and inspire one another, Ayoub
collected enough information about projects. He decided to combine his father's
experience with his interesting ideas to create an agricultural cooperative.

An agricultural cooperative that would help him guarantee his future behind the
mountains. Under the hard circumstances set by the government on education, a
government that kills youth’s dreams and melts the candle inside them.

Over millions of students are still waiting for the wind of change—a change that
may turn the desert into a green place, a change that can light back Ayoub’s way
toward his dream, and a change that may show the world that there are forgotten
people behind each mountain. Those are the true people who need help, support,
infrastructure, hospital, and new schools that keep up with time.

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We have come to the end of the story, although the suffering is not over yet. It will
only end if the officials take care of education and makes it a priority.

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