Rabat – The World Bank announced on Wednesday, June 20, a $500 million program in support of Morocco’s 2015–2030 Education Reform.
The Education Reform aims to emphasize the importance of education, training teachers, and creating new standards for those who wish to work in the sector, as well as securing employment through vocational training.
The $500 million program objectives are to improve the quality of early childhood education.
The World Bank stated that the program is designed to “support improved teaching practices in primary and secondary education, and strengthen the management capacity and accountability along the education service delivery chain in the Program Areas.
Only 50 percent of Moroccan children aged 4-5 attended preschool in 2017. “As a condition for learning preparedness, access to quality early childhood education (ECE) is a major focus of the current program,” said the World Bank.
Marie Françoise Marie-Nelly, World Bank Maghreb Country Director said: “In less than 20 years, the country achieved universal access to education for girls and boys, a notable Millennium Development Goals (MDG) achievement. However, learning outcomes have remained stubbornly modest.”
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Marie-Nelly also added that “This new program intends to promote a more efficient education sector by supporting access to quality pre-primary education for all…”
School dropouts, a lack of basic knowledge, the failure to teach languages, are some of the problems facing the education system in Morocco.
“Drop-out rates are still high and only 53 percent of students enrolled in middle school continue on to high school and less than 15 percent of first-grade students are likely to graduate from high school.
Low levels of daily attendance, teacher absenteeism, and a multilingual environment at school contribute to the low literacy rates in Morocco”, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
