I grew up in Rabat where, like everyone else, I attended public schools, including Hassan II High School and then to the Institute Agronomique et Veterinaire (IAV) Hassan II in 1979. It was still a period of relative opportunity in Morocco; and with a baccalaureate on hand one could still hope to go further. I still remember the night of the Baccalaureate results when we had to anxiously wait for hours in front of the newspaper offices in Rabat to grab that special edition which lists students who passed the baccalaureate. Of all the possible degrees, the Baccalaureate held a certain mystic, as it was more than a degree but was a kind of right of passage (something I am sure other Moroccans can identify with). Since then my education and academic pursuits took few twists and turns. |