The 2013-2014 school year is launched in the wake of the Royal speech delivered on the 60th anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People in which HM the King rang the alarm bell on the education situation, by drawing a detailed diagnostic of its ills, defining stakes and identifying ways to rehabilitate schools.
Rehabilitating the education system, put on top of national priorities, shall allow young people to hone their talents, develop their creativity and fully blossom, in order to carry out their duties as citizens, in an atmosphere of dignity and equal chances and to bring their contribution to the Kingdom's lasting and comprehensive development.
The rehabilitation, sought by HM the King, also reflected in the Sovereign's decision, announced in the Royal speech of last August 20, to activate the Higher education council, in its present version, pending the adoption of legal texts related to the Higher education, training and scientific research Council, as stipulated by the transition provisions of the Constitution.
The Royal "One million schoolbags" initiative started by the Sovereign in 2008 and renewed every year since then, with a view of giving a strong impulse to basic education generalization, affirming its compulsory nature and fighting against the phenomenon of school dropping, comes in the same spirit of reforms.
The initiative worth every year an amount of 344 million Dirhams, covers all of the Kingdom's provinces and prefectures and benefits primary and college education systems, with priority for pupils in the rural world (62pc). It is part of a solidarity approach, based on consolidation of the social dimension of the deep reforms ongoing in several key sectors affecting directly the daily life of citizens.
The "One million schoolbags" initiative is part of the national strategy of bringing social support to schooled children and their families, which was endowed this year with a budget of 1.91 billion dirhams. The strategy also comprises a financial aid program, called Tayssir (713 million DH), as well as school transport improvement programs (66 million DH) and school restaurants and boarding schools services (787 million DH).
On this occasion, HM the King toured the classrooms of "Ghandi" school which comprises 15 classrooms, including 9 classrooms for the social integration of handicapped and maladjusted kids. The Sovereign also handed out schoolbags and school manuals to 15 Ghandi school pupils, including five children suffering from Down syndrome and ten pupils from a rural region.