2002-2003 School year: towards universal access to education

The number of pupils newly enrolled in public schools for the 2002-2003 school year reached 707,000, marking a 5% rise compared to the 2001-2002 school year, Morocco's ministry of education said.

The number of pupils enrolled in public schools in rural areas reached 413,987, scoring a 7% rise in comparison with last year while in cities, the number of newly-enrolled pupils grew by 3%.

Concerning private schools, some 47,000 pupils enrolled in the first year, scoring a 5% rise in comparison with 2001-2002.

To ensure universal access to schooling , the ministry of education said some 4,255 primary education classrooms and some secondary education 528 classrooms were added. In addition, some 40,000 existing classrooms were refurbished.

The ministry goes on that education programs have been revised and adapted, and the evaluation and orientation systems developed, with a special emphasis on language teaching.

Every school will have a classroom connected to the internet and some 600 connected rooms will be added annually, the ministry said.