Number of new pupils increases by 7 percent

Moroccan Education Minister Ismail Alaoui said in Rabat Friday that the number of new pupils in Moroccan schools increased by 7 percent in comparison with last year, to reach 624,000.

Out of this figure, there are 320,000 new pupils in rural areas, increasing by 11 percent, said the minister at a meeting on "social mobilization for the development of education in the rural world."

He added that preparation of the "back to school" season are geared to developing and improving schooling in order to generalize it to all children aged between 6 and 11 years.

The department has devised a national program for the development of education in the rural world, to be supervised by a follow-up committee and a work plan in the rural world designed to determine priority areas, he added.