Violence and Cheating in Moroccan public schools

What a terrible situation in today’s public schools! We have students with no appropriate level, cheaters everywhere and the bad behavior is infecting the students like an epidemic illness as has been noted lately in many Moroccan schools. Let me tell you a story about what happened to me last year. I was invigilating the first term local standardized test for the third grade lower secondary school and I was shocked to find that the rate of cheating is alarmingly high. In some classes, there have been 80 % of cheaters, if not more. First thing a novice teacher would ask himself is how this rate has become so high? Second question is: Why there’s nobody doing something about it?
On the first day, and in the early morning, just few minutes before the start of the exams, we were struck by a violent behavior that happened there. Two students fought with knives in front of the school gate and one of them was seriously wounded. They both study in my classes. One of them caused a serious cut on the level of the right leg to the other boy and he was seriously bleeding. The principal of the school had no choice but to call an ambulance to take the injured boy to the hospital because his face became pale and was about to faint, whereas for the aggressor, the principal called the police to investigate with him about the cause of the fight. I and the other teachers were discussing how serious criminal behavior has become apparent in the school neighborhood. Only then, I remembered an article I read about “Neighborhood and community” in the educational psychology courses that we undertook as teacher trainees, and the famous saying: “It takes a village to raise a child”. I asked myself, what if that village contributes to the “non-education” of its children. It is argued that the whole community has an essential role to play in the growth and development of its young people. I can daringly say that a student fighting at the age of adolescence is a normal behavior, because they are in the stage of asserting and proving their virility maybe to their girl friends or just among themselves. But, to carry a knife or a weapon to hurt the other is a criminal behavior that shouldn’t be neglected and investigate about the “who” or the “what” is the cause of that behavior.
On the second day of exams, a student rebelled against the fact that I didn’t let him cheat, and, he daringly disturbed the class by standing on his seat and stepped over two or three of his friends’ seats and I was chasing him like if we were playing hide and seek. I then made the decision to call the principal’s assistant to prevent the student from passing the exam, because he was uncontrollable and disturbing his classmates. You’d probably think that I was invigilating all alone, but no, there was a puppet-like teacher who just stood still watching the show without moving a finger or uttering a word. When finally, the principal’s assistant came, he spoke to the trouble maker so gently as though he was speaking to an angel like student; telling him: “Son, stay still and finish your test and let your friends do their test peacefully without making a big fuss of it. It’s the teacher’s job to prevent you from cheating.” The lad consequently understood his words as the following: “Son, if you have this kind of teachers cheat discreetly and don’t let him see you, and then if you have some easy going teachers do what you like, but discreetly”. Then he told me word by word: “just deal with the situation and don’t be too tough so as not to have clashes with the students (because I was about to have a fight with that student) and just let go, we know he is a trouble maker, but, we can’t do much about it”. I was stunned. Later on I received some threats from that student. Afterwards, I invigilated with a teacher who let me do the watch dog alone while she sat down like an angel on the chair contemplating the angel like students doing whatever they please. That day, I fought cheating alone.
The problem is: teachers spend hours complaining over the students’ low level. I tell you: “it’s because you let them cheat”. And that mean getting passing grades, and consequently passing to the next level without knowing what the latter was about. I beg you, young teachers, stand against this terribly devastating phenomena and fight cheating. It’s only that way will we have students that really reflects their level, since only those who deserve will pass. Thus, instead of having a third year lower secondary student with a primary school level, we will have a baccalaureate student who is competent and reflects his level.