Akhannouch Chairs Meeting to Review Education Reform Progress

Marrakech – Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch chaired a follow-up meeting in Rabat on Wednesday to assess progress on the government’s ongoing education reform agenda, covering both the national education system and preschool development.

Akhannouch opened the session by presenting education reform as a core government priority, tied directly to human capital development and the broader social state project. He said the government has secured the necessary financial allocations and investments to improve public school quality and reinforce equal opportunity across the system.

He also called on officials to accelerate the implementation of pending projects and strengthen results-based governance. He urged the start of preliminary thinking around a national education strategy for the post-2026 period, aimed at building a quality public school system that guarantees equity and inclusion.

The meeting offered a detailed review of key priority projects currently underway. Generalization in preschool education has reached 80%, with more than 985,000 children now benefiting from the program.

The “Pioneer (Riyada) Schools” program, designed for primary education, is set to expand to cover 80% of primary schools starting in the 2026-2027 school year.

Evaluations carried out so far confirmed a notable improvement in students’ mastery of foundational learning. The expansion aligns with the 2022-2026 roadmap’s first strategic objective, which targets a 70% mastery rate in core subjects.

At the middle school level, the program recorded measurable gains in reducing dropout rates. The rate dropped from 8.4% to 4.45% in participating institutions, alongside improvements in individual support and tutoring mechanisms.

Progress was also noted in reducing classroom overcrowding. Support services, including school transport and boarding facilities, were expanded, particularly in rural areas, as part of the government’s equal opportunity commitments.

The meeting further reviewed the continued rollout of Amazigh language instruction at the primary level, as well as the expansion of English language teaching across the secondary cycle.