The World Bank (WB) granted Morocco, Tuesday, June 4th, 2013 in Rabat, a second loan of $ 100 million (about 859 million dirhams) to support Morocco?s educational system reforms.
Signed by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Nizar Baraka, and the Maghreb Department Director of the World Bank, Mr. Simon Gray, this development policy loan for education (PPD2-Education) aims to strengthen the institutional framework of the education sector, through a series of measures, namely the improvement of access to education, especially for rural children at secondary level, improving the quality of teaching and learning in primary and secondary level and the decentralized governance of the sector.
"The second development policy loan for education is intended to support achievements in, among others, training teachers, decentralization of educational governance and schools funding," stated Mr. Simon Gray.
Having highlighted the progress made by Morocco in the national Education sector, Mr. Gray pointed out the needs of the Kingdom in this regard, including the adequacy of curricula with the skills to be acquired in a modern world, the best qualification of teachers and funding based on efficiency.
For his part, Mr. Baraka stressed that the priority actions of this loan are articulated around three axes.
"The first priority is enforcing compulsory schooling for children aged 15, through the development of new criteria for the location of primary and middle schools, as well as the Action Plan for the period 2013-2016 in terms of consolidation and integration of social support programs and the setting up of regional assessment and examination centers, "stated the Minister.
He added that the second axis is to face cross-cutting issues of the system (education, management and stewardship), through capacity building of competences of the Ministry of National Education, and particularly those of teachers.
The third area is to provide the means to succeed, through strengthening performance, promoting transparency and ensuring accountability.
For his part, the Minister of Education, Mr. Mohamed El Ouafa, noted that this loan is intended to improve the quality of education which constitutes a priority for the government.
The PPD1-Education, signed, June 2010, amounting to 44.2 million euro supported the main institutional and regulatory measures as well as the introduction of new approaches to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery