Educational policy in Arab countries as a factor of nation-building (on the example of Morocco, Algeria and Lebanon)

Abstract

The article examines the problem of conducting educational policy in multicomponent societies (in ethnic and religious composition) in Morocco, Algeria and Lebanon. An analysis of the specifics of educational policy in these societies was carried out and the main reasons for the lag in education both from the Western standard and within various regions in these countries were identified. A special role in the formation of modern society, nation-building in complex societies is assigned to the education system and especially to the subjects of history and geography that form the citizen of society. However, Morocco, Algeria and Lebanon are successfully implementing only a strategy for the development of mathematical and exact disciplines, which are given a leading place in school education (we can say that three Arab countries continue the traditions of their great ancestors). In the humanities, the focus is on teaching languages, while history, geography, and literature remain “peripheral” disciplines in school curricula. The author has proposed ideas for further reforming the education system in these countries in order to create a single nation and prevent conflicts on religious and ethnic grounds.