World Bank grants Morocco 60.4 million Euros loan

[LalaMimi]

[i]Morocco and the World Bank signed Wednesday Feb. 23 in Rabat a MAD 604 million loan convention to back the Basic Education Reform Support Program (PARSEM) in Morocco

PARSEM, a five-year plan worth 250 million Euros, is an investment operation aimed at supporting reform efforts in the country. It allows a less rigid funding and a greater use of national financing systems.

PARSEM supports Government efforts to boost the quality of basic education for all children aged six to fourteen in a financially sustainable manner.

The actions to be supported by PARSEM consist in generalizing access to basic education to most school-children by 2008, improving the quality of education through reducing dropout and repetition, rates and improving students learning and building institutional capacity, reinforcing institutional capacity in association with the sector's decentralization process at the central, regional, provincial and local levels.

The project is part of World Bank Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Morocco which spells out education sector reform and decentralization as one of the key priorities for fighting poverty in the Kingdom.

The WB vice-president of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Christian Poortman, stressed that Morocco achieved remarkable progress in developing its education system. Education was extended to almost all children at the primary level, he said, as the national enrolment rate for primary education increased from 56% during the 1990-1991 school year to 91% during the 2003-2004 school year thanks to the allocation of 6.6pc of GDP budget to the education sector, he pointed out.

The loan convention was signed by Minister of Finance and Privatization, Fathallah Oualalou, in the presence of Minister of National Education, Higher Education, Staff Training and Scientific Research, Habib El Malki and Minister-Delegate to the Prime Minister in charge of General and Economic Affairs, Rachid Talbi Alami.[i/]