The North Africa Post
First Independent Mena Newspaper
Artificial intelligence is making inroads into Morocco’s educational landscape, raising a set of questions that extend well beyond concerns about student plagiarism. Salaheddine Nabirha, CEO of Philosophe Group and an expert in education, debated the issue in «L’Info en Face» podcast published by Le Matin TV
For the expert, the debate has already moved on: the issue is no longer whether to introduce AI into schools, but how to harness it to address structural weaknesses in the Moroccan education system — among them a poor alignment between learning and practical application, limited personalization of instruction, and a persistent gap between academic qualifications and labor market needs.
Nabirha’s starting point is an observed transformation in how students learn. Today’s pupils have grown up in an environment dominated by images, video, social media, and constant interactivity. A secondary school French teacher in Rabat, Samira, describes the change in concrete terms: sustained engagement with traditional lecturing is harder to achieve, but when content incorporates video, illustrations, and interactive tasks, student participation changes entirely. Nabirha argues this is not a failing of the new generation but a signal that the school system must adapt.
On the pedagogical applications of AI, Nabirha focuses on two gains. The first is time: by automating repetitive tasks such as course preparation, exercise generation, and initial corrections, AI tools could free teachers to concentrate on the human dimensions of education — mentoring, debate, critical thinking, and project supervision. The second is personalization: AI could enable teachers to adapt content rapidly to different learning levels, proposing the same concept via text, audio, video, or mind maps, depending on each student’s needs. This matters in a system where international assessments consistently flag comprehension difficulties.
Beyond tools, Nabirha advocates a broader philosophical shift — from the primacy of knowledge recall to the development of competences. A 15-year-old student named Yassine, attending a robotics workshop in Casablanca, crystallizes the argument: mathematical formulas that had remained inert on the page suddenly acquired meaning when used to program a robot. This reconnection of theory to practice, Nabirha argues, is precisely where AI can serve as an accelerant. He calls for progressive integration of technology culture from primary through lycée level — coding, robotics, 3D printing, connected objects — to build the foundations of a domestic technology startup ecosystem.
Two caveats accompany his advocacy. First, digital sovereignty: Morocco’s use of AI-powered platforms exposes it to dependence on tools controlled by American technology giants that collect large volumes of user data. He calls for national investment in Moroccan content, controlled educational platforms, and independent data infrastructure. Second, the classroom smartphone: Nabirha favors restricted, structured use of digital tools in dedicated spaces — IT rooms, fablabs, interactive boards — rather than unrestricted device access during class time. AI, he concludes, cannot replace the school or its teachers; at most, it can accelerate a transformation that Morocco’s education system urgently needs to undertake on its own terms.
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