King Mohammed VI chairs children and youth ceremony
Morocco, Culture, 8/25/2004

Morocco's King Mohammed VI, who was accompanied by Prince Moulay Rachid, chaired this Tuesday at the sports compound of Ifrane (Middle Atlas Mountains) the national "youth and childhood" ceremony that crowns the "2004 holidays for all" national program.

After the ceremony, held as part of the celebrations of the youth day marking his 41st anniversary, the king was briefed on the "holidays for all" program which offered to 151,000 youngster the opportunity to take part in summer camps.

The program required a budget of 55.58 million DH (around US$ 6.1 million) set aside by the secretariat of state for youth.

The king took a tour in an exhibition of paintings, readings, cinema, drama and other arts as well as models of youth centers, kindergartens, women's clubs and children protection centers.

The sovereign was also presented with explanation on the various missions of the secretariat of state in charge of youth, mainly those related to supervising and training youngsters and rehabilitating youth and women centers to keep them abreast with the country's democratic and modernist orientation and make them appropriate spaces for thought, free expression and education to values of dialogue and respect of others.

The governmental department also ensures the training of instructors and specialists in communication, drama, music, cinema, sport, volunteering, literacy, tourism, culture and other disciplines.

In this context, the centers it is supervising receive youngesters in order to develop their artistic skills and prepare them to take their role as engines in the attainement of the Millenium development goals and of the modern and democratic society.

In addition to the "holidays for all" program, the secretariat of state organized for 632,000 youth a series of forums and encounters as part of a new approach bearing an innovative approach of communication and dialogue.

Likewise, the sovereign inquired about the kindergartens and child clubs models that benefit over 60,000 persons, aged between 6 and 15 years.

These centers mean to ensure the pedagogical integration of children through a series of activities to protect and educate children.

The department's action also include the supervision of women clubs that are socio-educational centers designed to prepare women and girls to take up their roles as citizens and development actors.

These centers, which benefit 253,000 women nationwide, dispense courses of productive health and education to environment and hygiene and promote their awareness of their rights in a bid to entrench the values of citizenship, solidarity and tolerance.

On the same occasion, the king visited an exhibition of products of children protection centers that seek to improve the life of 4,273 delinquent children and those living in a precarious situation.

Artistic shows, dubbed the "Great joy," was performed by a group of children who took part in the summer camps, members of children clubs, women's clubs and children protection centers.

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