Contacts: In Rabat Najat Yamouri (212-37) 63 60 50 nyamouri@worldbank.org In WashingtonSereen Juma 1 (202) 473-7199
Sjuma@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, February 8, 2005 — The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved today a US$80 million loan to support a Basic Education Reform Support Program, also known as PARSEM, in the Kingdom of Morocco. PARSEM aims to increase access to basic education, improving educational quality, encourage stakeholder participation, ensure financial sustainability, and promote accountability in sector management. Morocco faced a period of economic stagnation since the late 1990s due to extreme drought which placed a strain on its predominantly agricultural economy. Despite the economic difficulties during this period, Morocco achieved remarkable progress in developing its education system. Education was extended to almost all children at the primary level. The national enrollment rate for primary education increased from 52 percent during the 1990-1991 school year to 92 percent during the 2003-2004 school year. Enrollment in the middle school level increased from 18 percent to 32 percent, and in secondary education from 6 percent to 15 percent over the same period. The formal education system in Morocco, however, faces many challenges today. Internal inefficiency is high, as evidenced by high drop-out and repetition rates. Gender and geographical disparities still exist at all education levels. Morocco also faces a rapidly increasing demand for middle schools, as a result of increased access to primary education. With government spending on education already high at 6.6 percent of GDP, opportunities to expand the budget are limited. PARSEM addresses these challenges by supporting Government efforts to boost the quality of basic education for all children ages six to fourteen in a financially sustainable manner. The actions to be supported by PARSEM are threefold : (i) generalize access to basic education, to most school-age children by 2008; (ii) improve the quality of education through reducing dropout and repetition rates and improving students learning; (iii) build institutional capacity, reinforcing institutional capacity in association with the sector’s decentralization process at the central, regional, provincial and local levels. The project falls in line with the 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. # # # For more information on this project, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/projects For more information on World Bank activities in Morocco, please visit: http://worldbank.org/ma | 
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