Rabat – The World Bank announced, on June 20, its MAD 500 billion program in support of Morocco’s 2015–2030 Education Reform.
The program aims to act on key elements of the vision to drive the sector’s transformation and boost human capital for every Moroccan child.
The Reform has been written into legislation for new framework laws in the education system.
The funding comes as the submission of the framework law advocating the introduction of foreign languages into the teaching of science subjects has divided parliamentarians, even within the majority.
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Although validated by the Strategic Vision, developed by the Higher Council of Education, the framework law remains controversial.
Despite the support of other parties for the new framework law, the Justice and Development Party (PJD) remained opinionated and a “strong defender” of teaching these subjects in Arabic just like Al Istiqlal party.
In March 2019, the parliamentary groups had found a consensus on the article related to teaching scientific and technical subjects in foreign languages.
The article aims to avoid the linguistic break between high school and higher education by adopting the same language for both levels.
The situation fell back to ground zero soon after. The reason was a video posted online the day before the meeting of the Commission, in which Abdelilah Benkirane, the previous head of government, calls the deputies of the PJD to vote against the draft law.
Despite the controversy, the government agreed to obtain funding of MAD 500 billion from the World Bank in order to carry out the strategic vision of the framework law and to support the 2015–2030 Education Reform.
The Education Reform aims to emphasize the importance of education, training qualified teachers, creating new standards for those who wish to work in the sector, as well as securing employment through vocational training.
“The education sector represents 6.4% of Morocco’s gross domestic product, an essential tool for strengthening human capital in the country,” the Bank noted. “In less than 20 years, the country achieved universal access to education for girls and boys, a notable MDG achievement. However, learning outcomes have remained stubbornly modest.”
The fund appears to allow the implementation of the requirements of the framework law without voting for it. The fund will specifically help implement the part related to access to the public education system and the promotion of language teaching.
