Education for All

Compulsory education for all up to the age of 15, and the rehabilitation of educational institutions were at the top of the agenda in Morocco with the launching of an ambitious “emergency plan”. Report.

Nadia Ben Sellam - Rabat, Al Hayat

The European Union renewed its 10 year-old engagement to support the education sector in Morocco. A new agreement was signed last December, with a budget of 108 million Euros, to fund the “promotion of the national education strategy” programme as well as the “emergency plan 2009-2012”. This programme aims at accelerating education reforms in the country, knowing that this sector suffers from worrying deficits according to national reports issued by the Higher Council for Education in 2008 as well as international reports issued by UNESCO and the United Nations and the World Bank. These reports called for a quick and effective solution to this problem. The “emergency plan” came to respond to these calls, speed up the pace of reform and reach what has not been achieved in the education system in the past ten years. The priority today is to integrate students in the core of the education system, in an effort to achieve global and sustainable development in the country.

Mapping the reform
In the nineties, alarm bells rang in Morocco with the ailing education system. The country elaborated in 1999 a special committee for education and training that worked on a project to reform the school system in Morocco. This project is still considered as a reference document to ongoing current reforms. Launched in the year 2000, this project was called the “National Education and Training Charter”. Yet, despite the efforts that have been exerted for the past 10 years, problems persisted in this system, especially with the alarming school drop-out of about 400,000 students per year and more than 1,5 million children that don't attend school. The implementation of the “emergency plan” began in the current school year (2009-2010) to speed up the reform process in the coming four years.

The European Union is considered one of the main international partners in the Moroccan education system reform. The national education strategy, among which the "emergency plan" benefited on February 24, 2010, from a EU grant of 108 million Euros. This considerable amount is partly directly poured in the state budget for education, through four tranches (one tranche a year). The financial support targeting children and adolescents was divided in two programmes within the 4-year “emergency plan”: 93 million Euros were allocated for the program of compulsory education for every child (till the age of 15), enhancing education methods, and ensuring equal opportunities in education. A priority is given to children from poor families. More efforts are exerted to support training for teachers and educators and to foster good governance in educational institutions.

15 million Euros were allocated to build and rehabilitate 1100 educational institutions in rural and suburban areas within the set “emergency plan”. The Minister of education noted upon the signature of the agreement that “this second support will enhance investments anticipated in the Emergency plan, as much as it will reinforce the capacities of the ministry.”

Moreover, both programmes have capacity reinforcement components, through technical assistance for instance.

Efforts exerted by the Moroccan side and its international partners were crowned by the signature of these agreements that aim at promoting education in Morocco and supporting public schools to guarantee sustainable development in the country. Better education will enhance the country’s social infrastructure and create an “added value” for Morocco, according to the Head of EU delegation in Morocco, Eneko Landaburu, who noted that the support is targeting deprived people to enhance their social condition and facilitate their integration in political life.

Tangible benefits… soon
The first programme in the agreement aims at combating high rates of school drop-outs in Morocco, especially among girls. According to official numbers from the ministry of national education, school drop-out rates in primary schools reach 3.95% for girls and boys. This rate goes up to 6.26% in middle schools, and reaches 3.31% in high schools. According to a report issued by the Higher Council for Education in 2008, 13 out of 100 students registered in primary schools, get to finish their baccalaureate, whereas only 3 students out of the same 100 do not repeat any school year.

In conclusion, the “emergency plan” aims at reducing school drop-out rates and failures, so that 90% of the students presently registered in first year should reach the end of the primary school in 2014-2015 without repeating any class.

Mohammed Maazouz, Head of a regional academy for education and training, stressed on the increase in school enrollment, among poor population, especially in rural areas. In Doukkala-Abda, in west-central Morocco, the first “integrated school” was established. This school provides educational and social services to 180 students coming from remote areas. The rate of students enrolling in this school is expected to rise in the coming years, according to Maazouz’s expectations.

The current school year seems positive with the launch of the “emergency plan”, as school enrollment in primary schools rose by 25.8%, while the rate of school absence dropped by 58.2%, and school drop-outs by 71.4%. In fact, great efforts were deployed in the framework of the programme, such as the distribution of 1 million schoolbags and supplies to primary school students, in addition to the implementation of a “facilitation” program, which supports poor families in rural areas to encourage them to send their children to school. Other educational and social measures target deprived families, such as providing transportation to schools, and offering food and school costumes to students.

Refer to the project fact sheet: Morocco basic education reform