Highlights

Signing of an Exchange of Notes and a Loan Agreement for the financing of the Learning Environment Improvement Program in the Basic Education Sector

01/07/2022
Signing of an Exchange of Notes and a Loan Agreement for the financing of the Learning Environment Improvement Program in the Basic Education Sector

The Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance, in charge of Budget, Mr. Fouzi LEKJAA, His Excellency Mr. Kuramitsu HIDEAKI, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Kingdom of Morocco and Mr. Ito TAKASHI, Resident Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Morocco, signed Friday, July 01st 2022 at 11:00 am, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Exchange of Notes and the Loan Agreement for an amount of twenty-two billion Japanese Yen (about MAD 1,600,000,000), for the financing of the Program for the improvement of the learning environment in the basic education sector.

The signed program aims to support Morocco in improving the learning environment and reducing learning disparities in mathematics on three levels:

  • (1) within schools,
  • (2) between schools,
  • (3) and between households.

The Learning Environment Improvement Program in the basic education sector is perfectly in line with the reference frameworks and strategies of the national education sector, namely the 2015-2030 strategic vision, the 51-17 framework law, and the main thrusts of the New Development Model, in this case thrust no. 2 "For a quality public school" and its targets for the 2035 horizon.

It is worth recalling that since the year 2000, the Japan International Cooperation Agency has supported the Kingdom's efforts in the basic education sector through several instruments. It should also be recalled that JICA, based in Morocco for more than 50 years, contributes to various cooperation programs, namely yen loan projects, non-reimbursable financial cooperation and technical cooperation, including the sending of Japanese volunteers. More than 38 concessional loan projects have been granted since 1976 in various sectors (education, water, health, infrastructure, agriculture and marine fisheries), totaling a budgetary envelope of about 312 billion Japanese yen (about 24 billion dirhams) with the aim of supporting sustainable development, promoting economic competitiveness and contributing to the alleviation of socio-spatial disparities.

At this ceremony, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance, in charge of the Budget, the Japanese Ambassador and the JICA Resident Representative in Morocco welcomed the quality of the relations and partnership that bind the two countries and reaffirmed their willingness to work together to consolidate and strengthen them even further.