National education charter to be implemented as of next year
Morocco, Education, 10/9/1999

King Mohammed VI announced on Friday that a national charter on education will start to be implemented on a gradual basis as of next year.

The charter, drawn by a royal commission set up by the late King Hassan II, seeks to pull out the Moroccan education sector from an acute crisis.

The king, who was addressing the opening of the fall session of the bicameral parliament, said the results of the commission's works "conform to our own vision of an education integrated in its environment, open onto its era, without betraying our sacred religious values and the foundations of our civilization, nor our Moroccan identity in all its components."

The charter is the result of a long work carried out by the Royal Commission, chaired by Royal Advisor Abdelaziz Meziane Belfkih and gathering theologians, businessmen, political parties, trade unions and civil society representatives. The commission toured several countries to glean data on their experiences and adapt them to the Moroccan reality.

King Mohammed VI, who noted that the education system suffers from an acute crisis, said the major objective of the charter is "to shape good citizens" able to take up the various challenges.

He also underlined the need to adapt the Moroccan schools, institutes and universities to their economic and social environment.

"We want our educational institutions to be efficient and to be in perfect harmony with their environment, a fact implying the need to generalize schooling, to ease access to school to all social layers and especially the poor and those living in remote regions, that must benefit from a preferential treatment," he added.

Part of the endeavor to reform the sector, the king announced that basic education (primary and part of secondary education) will remain free, while the affluent social layers will have to pay for their children's high school and university education.

"Being keen on enabling all the layers of the society to have access to education, we saw to it that education remains free at the level of fundamental education," King Mohammed VI said.

"The contribution of high-income layers will be required at the level of secondary education only five years after this experience proves successful," he specified, adding, "Low-income households will be totally exempted from paying school fees."

"As to higher education, registration fees will become compulsory only three years after the implementation of the project, and scholarships will be granted to deserving poor students," he elaborated.

The king stressed the need to "reconsider the management modes in order to rationalize the expenses of the education sector." "Duty requires actually that we show firmness in matters of state funds management to shield them from any ill-practice," he insisted.

In this connection, he called for associating in this drive local councils, the private sector, productive sectors, associations and organizations and all economic and social operators.

The king likewise stressed that informal education must be granted keen interest.

According to statistics disclosed lately by Moroccan L'Economiste daily, some 35,000 illiterate children in the 8-16 age bracket, currently benefit from informal education services.

Some 3 million children, mainly from poor families, are currently out of school, which makes of them an easy prey to social delinquency and exclusion.

King Mohammed VI called further for continuous national mobilization against illiteracy and its propagation and to eradicate its consequences, especially in villages and countryside, in a bid to contain this phenomenon which hampers the development drive.

According to official figures, illiteracy affects 54% of the Moroccan 28-million strong population. The rate reaches 75% in rural areas.

King Mohammed also said he decided to refer the National Education Charter to the parliament with a view to devising draft bills likely to enforce the project.

"The implementation of this charter shall gradually start as of next year. The commission will continue supervising the implementation operation, assessing results and enriching the charter so that it keeps pace with new developments," the king said.

Previous Stories:
  Literacy project launched in Rabat   (10/5/1999)
  Morocco opens academic courses on intellectual property   (9/17/1999)
  Research center on human rights at Casablanca law school   (9/15/1999)

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