Outline of the Project

Project Title

Project for Promoting Education with Equity and Quality (PEEQ)

Country

Morocco

Date of Signature (Agreement for Implementation)

May 9, 2014

Target Area

1. Chaouia Ourdigha (CO)
2. Doukala Abda (DA)
3. Gharb Chrarda Beni Hssen (GCBH)
4. Marrakech Tensift Al Haouz (MTH)
5. Taza Al Hoceima Taounate (THT)
6. Oriental
7. Tadla Azilal (TA)
8. Sous Massa Draa (SMD)

Period

From September 14, 2014 to September 13, 2018

Executing Body

Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP)

Background

The Government of Morocco (GOM) enforced National Charter for Education and Training in 1999 and has been implementing educational reform for promoting basic education in the country. To support for the reform, Japan has contributed to the improvement of students' access to basic education and school environment by implementing a technical cooperation, entitled "Basic Education Improvement Project (BEIP)", and an ODA loan project, "Rural Secondary Education Expansion Project (MR-P20)". The GOM adopted "School Improvement Project", which was supported by the BEIP, in the "Education Emergency Plan (Programme d'Ugence)" in 2009, and expanded it throughout the country. The MR-P20 has contributed considerably to improve access to lower secondary education by establishing 99 lower secondary schools in rural areas.

Although the educational reform has been implemented upon the initiative of the MENFP as described above, several issues concerning the improvement of education still remain at the school level because the policy has not been fully executed in the field. Therefore, the GOM requested a technical cooperation project of Japan to support initiatives of Regional Academies of Education and Training (AREF) to mitigate educational disparity particularly focusing on the following issues:

1) Disparities in quality of education among the schools (especially in learning achievement of the students when they enroll into a lower secondary school)

2) Disparities in access to education (e.g. primary-lower secondary transition rate, girls' enrolment rate, etc.)

Objective

Overall Goal:
The PEEQ activity is disseminated to other schools within / beyond targeted Regions (AREFs) in Morocco.

Project Purpose:
MENFP is able to support initiatives of AREF to mitigate educational disparity.

Output

1. Measures to mitigate school disparities in learning achievement are tried out and set
2. Measures to mitigate school disparities in enrolment are tried out and set
3. AREF is ready to continue the measures, and MENFP is ready to disseminate the measures to other Regions.

Activity

For Output 1

(Exploration and diagnosis)
1-1	Study current practice of student assessment at school, Delegation, AREF and MENFP
1-2	Identify lower secondary schools and their affiliated primary schools (bassins scolaires) that need interventions to narrow its gap in student achievement
(Information)
1-3	Japanese experts conduct learning/briefing session for MENFP/AREF/CRMEF/ Delegation personnel
1-4	MENFP personnel facilitate learning/briefing session for AREF/CRMEF/Delegation
(Development)
1-5	MENFP/AREF in collaboration analyze exam result to identify areas students do not perform well and its reasons, with a focus on basic academic skill of students
1-6	Devise and try-out intervention to restore basic academic skill of students (e.g. self-learning material)
1-7	MENFP/AREF in collaboration synthesize effective pedagogical approach/technique to improve student learning
(On-the-spot Guidance)
1-8	Inspector in charge introduce the approaches/techniques as a part of their routine inspection work
1-9	Japanese experts conduct training for the inspectors and CRMEF trainers
1-10	The trained inspectors and CRMEF trainers conduct training for teachers with support of Japanese experts
1-11	Teachers at the identified schools revise and implement lesson plan accordingly
(Monitoring)
1-12	Inspectors in charge report the progress at its routine meeting

For Output 2

2-1	Study current practice concerning students' access to school and retention and support for disadvantaged schools
2-2	Identify lower secondary schools and their affiliated primary schools (bassins scolaires) that need interventions to narrow its gap to others in enrolment (primary-lower secondary transition and girls enrolment)
2-3	Carry out survey on current activities concerning access and retention in the selected lower secondary schools and its affiliated primary schools (bassins scolaires)
2-4	Hold orientation workshop for the identified lower secondary schools and its affiliated primary schools to develop and improve school project
2-5	The schools propose school project (e.g. campaign activities, school activities, small-scale rehabilitation, and equipment/material provision to attract parents/students)
2-6	AREF provides grant to implement the school project
2-7	The schools implement the school project
2-8	AREF/Delegation inspectors monitor and evaluate implementation

For Output 3

3-1	AREF develops dissemination plan within the region
3-2	AREF revises TOR of related personnel to implement PEEQ activities
3-3	MENFP develops nationwide dissemination plan
3-4	MENFP revises TOR of related personnel to implement PEEQ activities
3-5	Japanese experts support MENFP and AREF to prepare their budget to finance PEEQ activities
3-6	Conduct workshop inviting a wider stakeholders

Input

Japanese Side

Dispatch of experts (in the field of Chief Advisor/Material Development, School Management, and Girls Education and other necessity arises within the budget)
Provision of equipments
Training of counterpart personnel in Japan
Expenses for the project activities (e.g. foreign training, monitoring, printing teaching materials, etc)

Moroccan Side

Counterpart personnel attached to the PEEQ 12 members (including 1 Project Director, 1 Project Manager, and 1 Project Coordinator)
Office space and its running cost
Expenses for the Access component of the PEEQ from the third year of the project Administration cost for implementation of the project (e.g. CP staff's transportation fee etc.)