19.7 percent of students, aged 13 to 17, who have experienced harassment, have tried to take their own lives. Among them, 24.7 percent are females, and 13.6 percent are males, showed findings of a study during a symposium organized by the Supreme Council for Education, Training, and Scientific Research.
The special assessment, conducted in collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and the Ministry of National Education, Primary Education, and Sports, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and seen by MoroccoLatestNews AR revealed that harassment in Moroccan educational institutions has pushed almost one-fifth of the victims to attempt suicide.
21.3 percent of students have contemplated suicide, with a considerable gender difference – 29.2 percent among females and 12.5 percent among males. This assessment, encompassing around 4,200 students in the 13 to 17 age group across 38 schools, brings to light the extent of this grave issue.
Harassment is now disturbingly common, with the assessment revealing that 42.5 percent of students had been exposed to it in the school environment within the year prior to the evaluation. This is nearly evenly distributed between genders, affecting 40.00 percent of males and 45.10 percent of females.
Digital harassment, another concerning trend, affects 15.1 percent of students, with 13.3 percent being males and 16.7 percent being females. The assessment indicates that this problem is on the rise.
The issue of harassment in Moroccan schools is only escalating, with the prevalence rate jumping from 19.2 percent in 2010 to 38.5 percent in 2016 and now reaching a distressing 42.5 percent in 2020.
The results of this evaluation, conducted in May of this year as part of the “Empowering Adolescents with Means of Change Using Health Data” project spanning Morocco, Ghana, India, and Jamaica, paint a troubling picture of violence in Moroccan educational institutions.
A concerning 55.6 percent of students reported experiencing severe injuries, one or more times, in the year leading up to the assessment, with 60.3 percent of these incidents involving males and 51.2 percent involving females.
Peer violence is also a prevalent concern, with 41.2 percent of students reporting involvement in quarrels. Males are more prominently involved, as 55.0 percent of them participated in quarrels during the year preceding the evaluation, compared to 28.3 percent among females.