The Complexities of Higher Education in Occupied Western Sahara
The issue of higher education in occupied Western Sahara represents one of the most perplexing and controversial models when examining the developmental and administrative policies adopted by the Moroccan Kingdom since its occupation of the region in 1975. A critical and rhetorical question arises that goes beyond merely assessing infrastructure: how can an administration that claims to impose complete sovereignty and seeks to permanently integrate the region into its territorial fabric fail—or deliberately avoid—constructing a fully-fledged university over more than half a century of field control, as asserted by the Moroccan government?
A closer look at the educational reality in the occupied part of Western Sahara reveals that the absence of a university offering a range of scientific, literary, and humanitarian disciplines in major desert cities such as Laayoune or Dakhla is not merely a logistical failure or attributable to financial constraints or low population density. Rather, it is a carefully calculated strategic and political choice. This choice oscillates between a stringent security concern that fears the transformation of a university campus in the heart of the occupied region into a hub for student gatherings, political awareness, and robust protest movements, and a softer integration policy aimed at dispersing the Sahrawi student body and compelling the emerging generations to migrate hundreds of kilometers northward, where they can be assimilated into the university spaces of Morocco, such as Agadir, Marrakech, Rabat, and Casablanca.
Thus, higher education in occupied Western Sahara remains fragmented and restricted to mere "minor annexes" and simple technical disciplines. This situation epitomizes a live manifestation of a security approach that prioritizes control and cautious oversight over the local population's right to a sovereign and comprehensive academic institution that reflects the region's stability and scientific independence.
Political Implications of Educational Policies
Upon examining this dynamic, it becomes evident that the adopted approach does not regard the local population as an indigenous community entitled to self-determination and direct, full access to the wealth of its land. Instead, it is constrained to an authoritative vision aimed at reshaping their identity and dismantling their social structure.
The absence of a university that encompasses various scientific, literary, and humanitarian disciplines in key desert cities like Laayoune or Dakhla is a meticulously calculated strategic and political choice. This choice teeters between a severe security anxiety that fears the transformation of a university campus in the occupied region into a focal point for student mobilization and political consciousness and a gentle integration policy designed to disperse the Sahrawi student body, compelling younger generations to relocate hundreds of kilometers northward to be absorbed into Moroccan universities.
This policy manifests itself in transforming the population from a group with political, economic, and sovereign rights into "subjects" orbiting within the framework of the Moroccan administrative system. Political rights are replaced by conditional patronage and administrative and religious loyalty, and the region is stripped of the potential for self-development to prevent the formation of any framed collective awareness. Consequently, control over resources and the direction of their revenues towards influential interest networks becomes the primary focus of administrative existence, at the expense of basic rights and comprehensive human development for the region's youth and their families.
The experience of the Sahrawi student movement within Moroccan universities represents one of the most notable political and academic paradoxes in the history of the Western Sahara conflict. While Moroccan administrative policies aimed to avoid establishing a comprehensive and independent university within the region to obstruct any youth mobilization or local political awareness, the forced displacement of students to major northern university strongholds such as Agadir, Marrakech, Rabat, and Casablanca led to a strikingly opposite outcome. These university complexes, despite geographic distance and stringent security measures, have become genuine incubators and mobilizers of Sahrawi liberation thought, serving as open arenas for direct political and ideological confrontations with the Moroccan authority.
Instead of cultural assimilation in the northern spaces, Sahrawi students found in their shared social circumstances and academic displacement the impetus to reorganize themselves into significant collectives known as "university sites" or "Sahrawi student factions," openly and authentically aligning with the political literature of the Polisario Front. Over decades, they have witnessed significant militant milestones, beginning with the establishment of the Walid Mustafa Sayed Movement, followed by student unions and national committees within university dormitories. These young individuals have engaged in intense union and political struggles, organizing "cultural and media days" to raise the Sahrawi flag and promote awareness of their cause, leading student strikes and expressing solidarity with political prisoners like the "Comrades of Walid" and the "Gdeim Izik" group. This ongoing generational activism has demonstrated that the absence of an academic institution internally has only further expanded and deepened the Sahrawi liberation consciousness within Moroccan universities.
The educational issue and study rates in Western Sahara stand as one of the most significant social indicators reflecting the stark disparity between two contrasting philosophies and administrations in managing human resources. Sahrawi population groups are divided between two geographical and political realities that encapsulate a profound structural paradox in the assessment of humanity and the eradication of illiteracy.
On one hand, the areas under Moroccan occupation (west of the wall) record relatively high illiteracy rates ranging from 18% to 24% overall, with a striking escalation in remote regions and rural communities exceeding 30%. Analysts and activists view this as a natural outcome of an administrative approach that has perpetuated historical marginalization and focused on investing in resources and economic infrastructure aimed at extracting and depleting the land's natural wealth, at the expense of comprehensive human development and intellectual growth, not to mention the hindrance of establishing complete educational institutions and independent universities internally.
In contrast, the Sahrawi refugee camps and liberated areas (east of the wall) exhibit an exceptional educational surge, with low illiteracy rates not exceeding 5% to 10%, translating to a study rate exceeding 90%. This unique experience of a community displaced from its land and enduring refugee conditions has made the battle against illiteracy and the establishment of mandatory education a central tenet of its social and political policies since the 1970s. This comparison between a reality dominated by marginalization and administrative control and another that has made the fight against illiteracy a weapon for resilience and liberation consciousness illustrates that the development and enlightenment of humanity have remained exclusive to a political will that believes in education as an inherent right and a symbol of resistance and survival.
Moreover, the transformations in human history and the race for human development among nations serve as a glaring truth affirming that investment in the minds of peoples and their enlightenment is the only wager that does not fade away. Tools of domination and marginalization are ultimately ephemeral and destined to be defeated by the will of peoples yearning for freedom and independence. The experience of independent Algeria stands as a living testament to this urban transformation; following decades of colonial rule that sought to deprive its people of education, Algeria has, through a comprehensive educational revolution, constructed a vast national university network that not only meets national needs but has also begun to confiscate and export the best scientific competencies, including doctors leading major hospitals worldwide, especially in France, and professors and researchers contributing to French research centers and universities. This historical paradox has turned the former colonizer into a dependency on the minds of those it once sought to keep ignorant.
In a similar vein, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic aspires to outline its academic and sovereign future upon the completion of its imminent independence and the establishment of sovereignty over its entire territory. The Sahrawi national vision, which has made literacy and education the cornerstone of its experience of displacement and organization amid adversity, is preparing to establish an ambitious higher education system that includes the establishment of university institutions and specialized scientific hubs covering most Sahrawi cities, such as Laayoune, Dakhla, and Smara. These future universities will not merely serve as academic institutions but will evolve into centers of scientific illumination, advanced medical and engineering training, producing graduates and competencies to contribute to the revival of their country and its surroundings.
As reported by echoroukonline.com.
