Morocco: government seeks to promote private education

20/05/2007

The Moroccan government has undertaken a programme to promote private education, with the hope that up to 20% of the country's children will be enrolled in private schools by 2015.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 20/05/2007

[Sarah Touahri] The government will promote private schooling to reduce overcrowding in public institutions.

The Moroccan government intends to boost private primary, secondary and higher education, with the aim of educating one in five students in the private sector. Morocco currently has 6.8 million students, of whom 6% are educated in the private sector.

After two years of negotiations, private teachers signed an agreement with the government allowing for the upgrading of private-sector schools, to improve their organisation and teaching skills, and to promote private education. To reach these goals, management and teaching staff in private schools will receive training enabling them to provide higher-quality education that responds to the social and economic needs of the country. The agreement also encourages the expansion of the national network of private schools and the implementation of school quality standards.

The private sector will take pupils and students from the public sector to reduce over-enrolment. There are plans to reduce tuition fees for schoolchildren and students so that a broad cross-section of society will be able to send children to private schools. Loans will also be granted to students to help cover their expenses.

The government is also applying new measures to real estate and taxation to promote private-sector education. It intends to write off debts totalling less than 200,000 dirhams for nearly 900 small schools, and to cancel interest on debts or restructure them for the remainder of schools. It is estimated that last year a total of nearly 3,000 schools owed the government a combined 370 million dirhams. Following efforts by the tax department to recover this money, the number of schools in debt has fallen to 1,187.

Private-sector schools will be able to receive grants from existing investment promotion funds including the Hassan II Fund for Economic and Social Development. There are also plans to create a financing mechanism operated jointly by banks and the state to fund projects to build or expand private-sector schools and training centres, and to encourage private-sector institutions to get involved in employment promotion schemes like Moukawalati, Idmaje and Taahil. Investors will be able to build new private schools on available state-owned land, including plots owned by state-owned companies.

Ahmed Brzel, chairman of the Association of Private Higher Education Institutions for Business expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the talks. "I think there’s now a light at the end of the tunnel and we can only applaud this process, which is the outcome of dialogue and mutual trust." He said, adding that the investment incentives have set a new trend in motion, breaking the deadlock in the sector.

A number of school complexes have been built in Morocco since the 1990s. At present, the majority of private schools are located in urban areas. 47% are situated along the Atlantic coast between Kenitra and Casablanca, while the remaining 53% are spread out across major cities in other regions. Chairman of the HEM group, Abdelali Benamor, says that workers in the sector are insisting upon the creation of a follow-up committee to oversee the implementation of the framework agreement. A special committee accountable to the prime minister will be responsible for ensuring adherence to the terms of the agreement.