Activities in Morocco

1. Loan Amount and Terms

2. Project Description

Rural Secondary Education Expansion Project

(1) Background and Necessity

Raising secondary school enrollment, particularly in rural areas, remains an urgent issue for Morocco. To address this situation, the government set the goal of spreading and improving the quality of basic education by adopting the National Education and Human Resource Development Charter in 1999. Furthermore, the Economic and Social Development Plan for 2000-2004 prepared in August 2000 recognized stable growth, a decrease in unemployment, poverty reduction and strengthening external competitiveness against the backdrop of establishing a free trade association with the European Union as national challenges and set forth policies for reducing regional disparities through rural development, poverty reduction, human resource development and reducing social disparities. The Plan also stated explicitly human resource development as one of the important issues on the agenda for economic development. As described above, there is a high priority as well as a significant need for human resource development for Morocco's economic and social development.

(2) Objective and Project Outline

The Project consists of constructing 101 junior high schools and providing necessary equipment in the rural areas of five regions ( Marrakech, Tensift and Al Haouz, Taza, Al Hoceima and Taounate, Doukkala and Abda, Tanger and Tétouan, and Souss, Massa and Draà), where access to educational service remains inadequate. These schools are part of the 329 junior high schools (of which 184 are in rural areas and 145 are in urban areas) that will be constructed in accordance with the Ministry of National Education and Youth's Secondary School Construction Program (which covers schools to be opened after 2005-2006) based on the National Education and Human Resource Development Charter and the Economic and Social Development Plan for 2000-2004. The Project aims at propagating secondary education in rural areas and helping to reduce disparities in access to education between urban and rural areas as well as between male and female children, thereby serving to raise living standards in the rural areas of Morocco.

Project Executor: Ministère de l'Education Nationale et de la Jeunesse
Address: Bab Rouah, Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco
Tel: 212-37-66-10-21
Fax: 212-37-66-12-68