London, June 25, 2019 (AltAfrica)-The World Bank.org has launched a new $500 million program in support of Morocco’s goals to expand access to quality pre-primary education, aimed at enhancing teachers’ skills and competencies, and strengthening the governance of the sector.

Building on the government’s 2015–2030 Vision, the new Morocco Education Support Program will act on key elements of the vision to drive the sector’s transformation and boost human capital for every Moroccan child.

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“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” said Marie Françoise Marie-Nelly, World Bank Maghreb Country Director. 

“This new Program intends to promote a more efficient education sector by supporting access to quality pre-primary education for all, investing in quality training for teachers and supporting a local-level approach to address education quality challenges and school-level leadership. This approach, based on best practices, is meant to support a paradigm shift in the sector to drive its transformation and build the country’s future human capital”.

Despite universal primary access, in 2017, only 50 percent of children aged 4 and 5 attended preprimary education in Morocco

As a condition for learning preparedness, access to quality early childhood education (ECE) is a major focus of the current program. Through targeted interventions, the program aims to establish an enabling environment for quality ECE service delivery, based on the government’s program to universalize preprimary education by 2027.

Moreover, the program will support an ambitious reform agenda to ensure that teachers are adequately trained and supported throughout their career, which will lead to a stronger teaching profession, a crucial element to improve learning outcomes.  

The Program will also support adaptive, and locally-tailored approaches to improve school-level delivery by supporting school principals not only to develop the school improvement plan in a participatory approach, but also to implement them.

www.worldbank.org