Princess Lalla Hasna has met the Japanese minister of education, Masahiko Shibayama, in Tokyo to discuss means to develop Morocco’s educational tools.
Rabat- Princess Lalla Hasna, King Mohammed VI’s younger sister, is the chairwoman of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environment Protection.
During the meeting on Tuesday, the princess received a briefing on Japan’s school pedagogy in the field of education for sustainable development (ESD) and discussed the possibilities of cooperation on technological tools for education, such as computer applications and games.
The cooperation initiative is in line with the engineering program of Morocco’s education ministry, called “Generalization of Information and Communication Technologies in Education in Morocco.”
The meeting was also open for agreements on student and teacher exchange programs between the two countries.
Morocco’s Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research Said Amzazi; Morocco’s ambassador to Japan, Rachad Bouhlal; Japan’s secretary to the minister of education, Takashi Muaru; and the director general for international affairs, Mami Ouyama, attended the discussions.
Japanese schools are members of UNESCO’s Associated Schools Project Network. The schools have integrated sustainable development into their curriculum.
Read Also: EU’s AFET Adopts Morocco-EU Agricultural Agreement
Japan has one of the best educated populations and the world’s top education and research centers, according to UNESCO.
Since Japan’s formal recognition of Morocco in 1956, upon Morocco’s independence, the two countries have had a positive relationship, opening embassies in each other’s countries within the next 10 years.
Japan has often looked to Morocco as an important African partner both for trade and solving geopolitical issues in North Africa.
Japan has invested over MAD 28 billion in loans for Moroccan economic growth and business development since the end of 2015.
Japan was also a co-organizer alongside the UN, World Bank, and African Union Commission of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Tokyo in October.
In late June both countries pledged to fight environmental problems in the Maghreb region by forming the “Morocco-Japan-Africa tripartite cooperation.”